Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

No one ever really expects to find a dead skeleton on a hike. Unlike most, though, Hickory Clove was relatively used to the dead by this point, so they'd been more curious than anything. Who was it? What was their story? Why here?

He had a bit of an inkling as to the cause of death at least, given the shards of metal piercing its hands together. It definitely wasn't natural.

Someone had seemed to find it before him, though, given it was partially buried in the ground with rain furrows trailing down where it’d washed the rest of the dirt away. That and, quite obviously, the cairn. It looked relatively new, though.

But aside from that, and a few cracks along the body and one on the face, the skeleton was in a pretty good shape, and, well, they were itching to actually use that resurrection spell they'd learned not too long ago. It'd only work if the spirit was willing, so they considered that permission enough, and hey, maybe they'd get to learn a little more about whoever this person was.

That question . . . didn't really get answered. He supposed it was his first attempt, but still, to not only not return the skeleton to their base, uninjured, non-decomposed form, but also not allow them their memories back?

. . . Well, at least they were alive again.

The question now was what to do. After some introductions and explanations on Hickory's part, and . . . a particularly interesting amount of fascination at the grass and sky and trees and nature sounds on the skeleton's, the two of them eventually decided to do some investigation on who they might have been, and if they could be returned to any family or friends.

Lady luck didn't favor them there, though. The closest they got was some ruins that the skeleton could have belonged to, but with their sheer fascination at just a normal sky, they found that a little unlikely. After a long time of looking and talking with one or two strangers on the hiking trail, the two of them settled down somewhere and began sifting through what had been expelled from the skeleton's hammerspace when they died.

"I'm not sure we'll find anything out, Hickory," the skeleton spoke up after some time.

"Oh hush. It's only been a day yet. You weren't extremely far off the path. Someone must have seen you eventually. Heck, the fact that everything from your hammerspace had been stacked next to you, you were buried, and you had a cairn is evidence enough for that. We can start with that legend that bluebird mentioned. Dead body on the side of a mountain that people are rumored to disappear from certainly seems like it could be related."

It had been a little while since he last came up this way. Not usually his cup of tea. But he was curious about what he saw last time, whether the dead body was still here, or if it had been dealt with (whether by a person, the elements, or anything else really). A morbid curiosity yes, but a curiosity none the less.

So when he overheard people talking about a 'dead body' as he approached the spot, well, his curiously was piqued!

As he wandered up beside Hickory to peer at the spot the corpse had been, he started talking.

"What? Is that corpse still here? You'd think someone would have found it by now! It's not all that far from the path really. But then again not everyone leaves the dead be so what do I know?"

He came to a stop next to Hickory, looking at him from a short distance, not quite fully able to see his compatriot from where he stood, nor the spot where the corpse should have laid. But that was a small price to pay for not being within a threatening range when he's finally noticed.

Both of them startled upon hearing someone suddenly start talking nearby, and they whipped around towards the speaker.

"I . . . well I'd say someone did find it, yes," Hickory replied, glancing towards the skeleton as he did.

The skeleton shifted forward to see this newcomer more clearly. "How long ago did you find this corpse?" This was the first lead they'd found yet.

He looks friendly enough on first appearance, even if you can't see his mouth or really much of anything other than nose and eyes what with how bundled up he is (you'd think he'd be warm or something in all that...). He's got his hands shoved in his pockets and a casual stance.

"The question is did they do anything 'bout it-" he looked to the skeleton when they shifted forwards, cutting himself off when he recognized them.

"Hey! You're that corpse! Good ta see ya up and walking. It was what? Two weeks ago I saw ya? Maybe less maybe more. I'm not exactly great with time. Youse was already a skeleton though by then if ya were hoping I'd seen yer face or something though. Worn away at a bit too so it was quite a while."

He gives a little nod like 'yes! That's a good answer to the question!' despite not giving any any clear date at all.

"Oh where are my manners, the name's Wally! Wally Fleur!" He gives a tip of his hat and holds out a hand to shake for either of them.

The skeleton gave an embarrassed smile when the newcomer pointed out exactly what they were, or . . . was it "were" or was it "had been"? Did they still count as one now or did they not? Undead, sure, of course. But a corpse?

They filed that away to think about later. "I suppose I am, yes." The skeleton leaned forward a bit as he continued to speak. It may not have had any clear date, but it was something at least. It gave the two of them a better time frame to look around, such as more than a few weeks ago. Not that that was much but it was still something . . .

Hickory smiled and shook his hand. "Hickory Clove, local necromancer." He figured if this person didn't seem to mind this corpse he found a couple weeks ago suddenly up and walking, he'd be a safe person to tell. "Or, well, not local, actually, but the point remains."

"I'd think I'd recognize a corpse I saw." Not. Not the most good way to say that. Kind of concerning actually if you think about it. "Ya'd probably just be a normal skeleton now though yea?"

"Nice ta meet ya Hickory!" He's got a firm grip for such a small toon, giving Hickory a hearty handshake. He then turns to the skeleton and holds out his hand. "Do you gotta name too?"

"Concerning, but I respect that," Hickory replied.

The skeleton gave Wally a small smile. "I suppose. Though I'm not sure undead would count as normal." They blinked a couple times as their name was asked for, and though they took the handshake, their response was hesitant. "Not . . . really, no. Not that I remember, anyway. That's why we're looking into any deaths or disappearances around here. I don't remember anything from before I was resurrected."

"Well I mean, yaint dead anymore yeah? Therefore it's normal enough!" I... Do not think that's how it works sir.

He gives a nod of understanding at their lack of name "Ahh! Makes sense then." He doesn't know enough about magic to ask if the spell went awry.

"Well, it might be helpful to that to look around the area for cause of death. Ya had metal speared through yer hands right?" He pokes his own palms in the centers to demonstrate.

"So maybe ya can figure out what happened with some clue huntin'!"

They chuckled. "I'm not sure most would agree with you on that. But . . . thanks."

At the mention of the metal speared through their hands, the skeleton looked down at the resultant holes there. ". . . Something with enough force to do that, yes. There was some other debris around there, too. But we haven't been able to find the source." Only their hands were pierced, but it was possible pieces had shot straight through them, or hadn't reached the bone, and they bled out or got infected or something. The thing was they didn't know where those shards had come from. Aside from the debris, there was no sign of an explosion anywhere nearby.

"Trust me, we've been trying," Hickory added. "But we've only had today to look into things so far."

He scratched his head in thought. "Might have been an attack or something? That or someone else made off with whatever it was. That or heck! if it's been long enough stuff mighta just cleared it!"

"You could use that... whatchamacallit. Triangle-montery? to figure out where it shoulda been at least." He does not know what trigonometry is but he's seen smart people use it. And probably used a rough version of it before.

"Well, with time ya can probably find out. I doubt it's been long enough you can't find anyone who knew ya! 'Specially if you look into the news or police records."

"Yeah, it's going to be difficult," Hickory replied. "We'll try, though."

The skeleton tilted their head. "Trigonometry? Triangulation? We have. But it's a wide area and there doesn't seem to be much out of the ordinary. Whatever might've caused it isn't there now."

"Hopefully," Hickory said. "We'll definitely need some time, though."

He points at the skeleton "Yeah! That's it!"

"Hmm. Maybe youse can figure out what it mighta been from yer stuff? Ya can tell a lotta 'bout someone from their junk! And if we can make a guess at a hobby we can make a guess at what you mighta been doing. Like if youse were some kinda hunter ya might have been hunting some kind of beast, or if youse were the type to antagonize people ya mighta been on the recieving end of someone's weapon" He gestured while he rambled and ended it with another nod.

"If ya need help looking around the area I can always stick around a bit?"

The skeleton held up an arcanology textbook and some singed data sheets that had been tucked away inside. "Probably involved in one of the magical sciences. But that's about the extent of it."

Hickory perked up. "If you're willing to help, then sure! How long?"

He seems to perk up a little bit at that, rocking on his heels as he thinks a bit. "Magical Sciences? Maybe ya were fiddling with some kinda machine or new spell then. If it were a machine that ripped itself to bits, that would explain the lack of source, and if it were a spell, then it makes sense for the source to not be around!"

"Ehh I got no plans anytime soon, I can help the rest of the day and we'll see from there yeah?"

"All the way out here, though?" the skeleton asked. "I suppose it's not impossible, but I do wonder what I'd have been testing . . ."

"We'd appreciate that," Hickory replied, his tail wagging.

Unfortunately, there wasn't much else they were able to find throughout the rest of the day. A lot of discussion was had, though, and Hickory made notes of things they could look into later.

It was getting late in the day now though, and the skeleton glanced around. "Is it getting . . . darker?" A thrill ran through them at the concept. Was it shifting from day to night? It was a concept they only vaguely knew of, but they did know of it, and it sounded incredible. And they'd get to see it!

"Well obviously something dangerous. One, it killed ya. Two, ya went all the way out here to do it! So clearly it wasn't something that worked to be in a lab or yer house. The book yer holding might give ya ideas if ya read through it though."

And throughout the day Wally does not shut up almost ever except for other people to get words in. Lots of discussion was had indeed.

He squints up at the sky. "Looks like it! If ya climb a tree ya might be able to see the sunset."

Oh the skeleton perked up quite a bit at that. "The sunset? I'd love to see the sunset!" Oh, they were already at a tree, huh. When did that happen? But they seemed to be looking to the others first to confirm that now was the time to see it.

He nods. "Should be 'bout time to catch it- So long as ya can climb the tree."

Whiiich... May take a little bit considering it's a tree. In the woods. So unless you like. Hug the tree and squirm up it til ya reach the branches or the tree has surprisingly low branches.

And instantly the skeleton is gone, replaced by a cloud of dust trailing up the tree. Or at least, they were, before promptly falling back down to the ground. They stood up, though, determined, rolling back non-existent sleeves before attempting to climb once more.

Wally snickers at that. "Yer not gonna get up like that! Here- I'll climb up and drop down a rope for ya."

And without waiting for a word about it, he scrambles up the tree, grabbing handholds that really shouldn't work as handholds before disappearing into the branches.

A rope drops down not too long after that.

Hickory laughed as Wally scrambled up. "You're good at that!"

It really was amazing, but once the rope was dropped down, the skeleton was instantly focused back on the possibility of seeing the sunset, and up they went. It was a rather clumsy climb, but the fact that they didn't actually weigh much helped, and they made it up there before the sun started setting in earnest.

"'S all practice!" He cheerfully called back.

Wally was in the tree to help point out which branches they could grab to get to the top safely and clambered up beside and a little down from them when they reached the top. He gestures at the sunset. "So? Whadda ya think?"

The skeleton didn't respond to Wally's question, thoroughly awed by the sight. They knew that something like this existed, but to actually see it was incredible. And while they didn't respond, Wally would easily be able to see their eyelights shining as they watched, their face lighting up in a grin.

"Heh! Glad ya like it buddy!" He grins and settles down to watch the sunset, looking surprisingly comfortable draped over a branch.

It wouldn't be too long before the stars started to peek out as well.

"It's beautiful . . ." the skeleton finally said, staring out across the sky.

After a few minutes, Hickory joined them, panting from his climb up the rope. "Ugh . . . remind me to never do anything physical after resurrecting someone again . . ." He didn't fully miss the sunset, though, so the climb wasn't completely for nothing. Man, he was usually good at these kinds of things . . .

He looked over at the skeleton. "Sunsets really are beautiful, but I'm still trying to wrap my mind around why you seem to know about some things but not other, really obvious things." Really, they looked like they'd never even seen a sunset before. Though maybe the way they stared at the sky upon first seeing it should have been an indicator as to what their reaction to it changing colors would be.

He nods. "It sure is."

Wally chuckles at that "You'd think that'd be common sense! Ya did bring someone back from the dead after all."

"Well, if ya were dead for a while ya probably haven't seen some of this stuff in a while, and if ya haven't seen something in a while ya tend to forget about it. Yer brain making more room for other stuff and the like ya know?" Not quite the question asked but hey, possible explanation?

"I mean, they don't remember what their life was before so maybe some other things went too! That or they lived somewhere they didn't see this kinda stuff. Plenty of places like that if ya end up in the wrong place." He gives a little shudder at that last thought.

The skeleton chuckled. "What other stuff would it be making room for if I was dead? Not like I'd be getting any new information." The possibility of forgetting more than just what their life was like before was an interesting explanation, though. It wouldn't necessarily be unlikely, either . . . They looked to Hickory.

Hickory raised their hands in defense. "Look, I've only recently learned about resurrection, I don't know how it all works when something goes wrong." They paused. "The potential that before death you'd never seen the sky or even grass before is . . . concerning. The only places I can think that'd be like that are just . . . buildings without windows and underground." They supposed underground communities of toons existed but those were in the minority, and they didn't know of any around here.

The skeleton fell silent in thought, not so much at what was said but how they'd been referred to. Hm. They weren't quite sure what that feeling was, but it was something.

He shrugs. "Decay? Or it could have been before death."

"Well, it can always be looked into more ta figure out what went wrong. If they had never seen the sky or grass while alive how did they get out here dead? Unless someone dragged 'em maybe but that doesn't make much sense."

He makes a thinking face before turning to the skeleton (still flopped over a branch) and asking "Do you think you could have pissed someone off enough to do that?"

"That's the question, isn't it? But there's still the metal debris that was everywhere, so unless that happened post-death, they likely weren't dragged out."

The skeleton was about to make an annoyed comment about talking about them like they weren't here, when Wally brought them back into the conversation. "I . . . I don't know? You two are the only people I've interacted with for an extended period of time . . ." They'd never want to make someone in any way angry with them in the first place, though. They wanted to be kind to people.

"Yeahhh... Hmm..." He squints in thought.

"Unless the person wanted to confuse anyone looking into yer death." He sounds a little unsure about that. Not the most solid theory.

He does a vague wave. "Yeah but, assuming yer personality is similar to how ya were before ya were before, d'ya think you would push enough ta anger someone like that?"

"I'm not sure . . ." Hickory said, thoughtful.

"I'd . . . like to think not," the skeleton replied, "but I don't know if there'd ever be a situation that would push me to push someone enough to anger them like that."

Hickory shook his head. "Regardless, we should stop theorizing for the night. We'll have plenty of time for that later, and-" he looked at the skeleton, "-you're still getting used to life again. Give yourself some time to relax and figure yourself out. Not who you used to be, but who you are now."

The skeleton paused, then smiled softly. "Yeah. Yeah, that sounds good."

"Then it probably wasn't targeted murder. Or If it was it was very intense and probably not something you wanna figure out."

"Yeaa it's getting late. Th' Stars are coming out soon." He pushes himself off the branch to look at both of them. "Youse got a place to stay or are ya interested in campin' out?"

The skeleton winced. "I rather hope it wasn't that, yes."

The mention of the stars had them perking up, though. "The stars?" They looked back out across the sky eagerly.

Hickory smiled at that before answering Wally's question. "Afraid not. I hadn't been planning on staying around here this long. Camping sounds fine to me, though."

Wally grins at the skeleton's enthusiasm. If they like the sunset they're going to love the stars.

"Well, I've got a tent if ya need. Really more of a canvas tarp to string between trees, but it keeps the rain off." He looks to the skeleton again with a small smile, barely noticeable. "Youse can even stargaze for a while if ya don't have to go looking for board."

"I appreciate that," Hickory said. "And . . . thanks for the help. Really."

The skeleton looked back at the unfamiliar word. "Stargaze? I assume that just means, well, gazing at the stars?"

"Not a problem!" He basically lives off of odd jobs, so it's no big deal for him to stop for a while and help.

Wally nods. "Yep!" And pops the 'P'. "People like to point out constellations and such too when they watch the stars come out."

"Oh! The pictures in the sky?" They didn't know much about them, but they did know that they existed.

He nods. "People connected stars to make pictures of things. I think there's like.. a crab? And a goat? and quite a few other ones that I don't really know. Ya'd probably need to get an astrology book or talk to someone who knows a lotta 'bout that kinda stuff to know all of them!"

"Some look more like what the official picture idea is more than others, though," Hickory added. He really wasn't surprised at this point that the skeleton didn't know much about them, though it still baffled him.

"You'll have to show me," they replied, looking back out to the sky as it darkened.

"Well, I don't know all of them, but we can probably find a book for the ones we can't put our heads together for yeah?" He looks to Hickory for confirmation.

As the first couple stars start to peek out, just bright enough for him to see them, Wally points up at them. "Look! The first stars!"

"Yeah, though probably not tonight. But hey, we can always make up our own!"

The skeleton perked up as Wally called out towards the first stars, and they followed his gaze. "Oh! They're so small!"

He nods. "Yeah! People do that all the time! How else d'ya think we got the constellations we know today?"

"That's because they're very far away."

"Exactly! It'll be fun!"

"I know, but I still thought they'd be a little bigger . . . They're pretty, though. And there's supposed to be more?"

Wally grins at him. "Yep! These are just the first ones to come out, they continue to grow in number as the sky darkens and they all wake up."

"Once the majority of them are out," Hickory added, "if you train your eyes on some of the brighter ones you'll be able to see a lot of dimmer ones that you can't see when looking at directly. It's incredible, really."

The skeleton was already smiling. "I can't wait."

Wally nods and lapses into silence, looking up at the stars as they slowly appear with the sunset. A smile on his face, only visible by the effect it has on his eyes, as he stares up at the night sky.

The skeleton's smile slowly widened as more and more stars came out. They didn't even notice them as they did, really, but more so came to the realization that there were more stars than there were several minutes ago. And it was breathtaking. Their eyelights were shining brightly, and they kept making surprised and excited noises as they noticed new things. It was incredible.

Wally just glances to them when they get excited, eventually when there's enough stars he starts to point out a couple of the constellations, pointing up at the sky to trace a rough shape of each of them. Enjoying spending time with someone whose so amazed by the night sky.

They stayed out there for . . . quite a while, stargazing. But much to the skeleton's chagrin, they did need to actually sleep before Hickory passed out in the tree itself, and they all started making their way back down the rope.

As they were the closest to it, Hickory went first, carefully grabbing onto the rope and attempting to climb down it. Attempting being the key word, for as soon as he started, the one foot he had still on a branch slipped before he was fully situated on the rope, and while he flailed in place midair for a second, attempting to get a hold on something, he soon plummeted to the ground, landing face-first in the dirt.

"Hickor-!" the skeleton called out, rushing forward to see if they were alright. However, a tree is not a good place to rush forward in, and as soon as the name left their mouth, they misstepped and fell straight through the canopy.

Unaware of this, Hickory groaned, starting to prop himself up. "Alright, remind me not to-OOF!" he yelped as the skeleton fell directly on top of him.

As the last one to climb down the tree due to having to take down the rope, Wally was able to watch the pair's spectacular flop to the ground, wincing at the impact, before clambering down through the tree to reach the branch he tied the rope to. He swiftly untied the rope and wrapped it back into a coil before flinging it over his shoulders and climbing to the very bottom of the tree, where he jumps down as not to land on the pair and lands with a little spin and flourish.

Wally then turns to the pair. "Are youse two alright? Falling from a tree ain't exactly the softest way to get down." He would offer them a hand up but he is literally only a little bit over three feet tall.

Hickory, face still smooshed flat into the ground, waved a hand vaguely.

The skeleton groaned, slowly rolling off of them. ". . . Sorry."

A muffled Mmph was all they got in reply, though after a moment Hickory did lift their face up. ". . . So. I think it's been at least a year, probably more, since you died, because otherwise I would not be this bad at . . ." they struggled to find the word, "doing things."

He looks Hickory up and down with his hands on his hips. "Sounds like ya probably should have rested preeetty soon after ya cast that spell yeah? Maybe it's best if you stay sitting while we set up the tent."

He gestures to the skeleton then points at a pair of trees, "Come on, those two trees over there should work for a tent."

He starts walking over, and as he does, he pulls out a folded piece of canvas. Or maybe it's a tarp? As well as as the necessary equipment to pitch it. Well, other than the rope, that's still draped over his shoulders.

"Oh hush!" Hickory protested. "It was my first one and I was distracted by them not knowing who they are upon being resurrected." They didn't protest not helping with the tent, though, content to just stay lying on the ground.

"Ugh, give me a moment," the skeleton said, still recovering from the fall.

"I doubt they're much better off than me," Hickory added with a yawn. "Coming back from the dead is just as taxing as raising someone from the dead."

. . . Okay, yes, the skeleton was able to come a little closer to identifying the weird feeling that came from hearing the they pronouns. It was off. ". . . You know, off topic, but I don't think I'm a they."

"Fair enough." He concedes.

"Yeah but they didn't fall directly onto the ground from a tree, so they're probably in slightly better shape than you, yea?" Also they did better at climbing the tree than Hickory.

Wally glances over his shoulder at the skeleton. "Yeah? Any idea what ya might use? Or do ya just want to try something else?"

"And didn't have someone fall on them . . ." At least the skeleton was relatively light, though getting hit by solid bone wasn't exactly comfortable.

"I'm not sure . . ." the skeleton said thoughtfully. "I think I just want to try something else."

"Well, there's plenty to choose from," Hickory said. "He, she-"

"Not she I don't think."

"Alright, not she, so there's he, xe, fae, ey, yon . . ." they continued on, going through several more pronoun sets, a couple more of which were denied relatively quickly.

Of the ones that weren't . . . "That's, that's a lot," the skeleton said, shifting back. It was all a little overwhelming.

"Exactly! Once again they are the one of the two in less rough shape." A decisive nod to go with that.

By the time Hickory is listing pronouns Wally's come to a full stop looking back at the pair. Unless he's tying up the rope very high to one of the branches, he needs someone tall to tie the rope around the trunk of the tree.

"Yeahhh people have a lotta pronouns." He nods in sympathy with the skeleton. He can understand being overwhelmed by all of the possible pronouns.

"Hmm... You could try mulling them over in your head and pick out which ones sound closer to right for ya? Or just go through the list later and decide."

"I don't know, I might need to try out all of them . . ."

"Well, we can go through the list," Hickory said. "You can think over which ones you want to start with while you're helping set up the tent?"

"Alright," the skeleton agreed, standing up and heading over to Wally. There really were quite a few pronoun sets . . . But which ones would be best to start with? Were there any that sounded better? Or more importantly, felt better?

"There ya go! A plan of action! Now help me tie up this rope." He doesn't have enough pronoun experience to be particularly helpful with this kind of stuff.

He's standing by one of two trees and, during the conversation, moved to uncoil the rope a bit after putting down the tent, and now he's offering it up to the skeleton. "We need to tie one end to each tree around the trunk so we can drape the tent over top and stake it down."

"Alright," the skeleton said, taking the rope and reaching up to tie it around one of the tree trunks. "How high do we want it to be?"

"High enough you and Hickory can sit in it at least. Probably a little higher ta keep potential rain out." He's started working on unfolding the canvas of the tent, looking up when asked about the rope height.

The skeleton nodded, watching him unfold the canvas before glancing at the ground, then up the tree, gauging how high it might need to be. Satisfied with whatever that ended up being, the skeleton started tying the rope to the trees.

Hickory finally pushed himself up and began gathering up everything that'd been found around the skeleton. "You should probably put these in your hammerspace."

"Oh, probably." There was a chuckle as the skeleton finished tying the rope, then went over to pick up the items.

Once the rope is tied up and the tent is unfolded, Wally throws the tent overtop of the rope, letting it hang down the other side and straightening it out so it's even.

"Yeah it's probably a good idea to take that stuff with ya, might have clues. That and it's your stuff, youse don't want to just leave it lying around for other people to take."

It doesn't take him long to stake down the corners of the tent actually. Considering it's the most basic tent possible though, it's not surprising. Only four corners to stake and the canvas is a funny shape so it has flaps.

"Alright, tent's up!" He says, dusting off his hands. "It doesn't have a floor but it's better than being potentially rained on yeah?"

"Yeah. Not that any of it is in any good shape anymore, but . . . it's still all I have."

Hickory gave the skeleton a soft smile, tired though he was. "We'll get you some new stuff, too.

The skeleton returned it. "Yeah."

"But! For now we're going to sleep." And with that, Hickory fully stood and climbed under the tarp. "Definitely better than being rained on."

"Hey some of it might be able to be repaired if ya find the right people. And yeah! You can get new stuff to replace the old!" It's easy to find stuff! You can't see Wally's hammerspace but he has so much junk in there. He is good at finding stuff.

"The tent's only big enough for two so you two use that and I'm going to sleep over there." He points up a tree and the way he says it implies he does this often. He is very small so it's not like it's hard for him to do such.

Hickory looked up where he'd pointed. "You know, I'd protest, but it sounds like you're experienced in this."

"What if it rains on you, though?" the skeleton asked.

"Hey, it's not exactly easy to set up a tent every night to sleep." Casual shrug. "It'll rain on me less because i'm in a tree, and even if it does, I'll be less wet than if I slept on the ground because trees don't have puddles."

As he says all of that, he starts walking towards his chosen spot.

"Well . . . alright. Don't fall off." He probably wouldn't if he was used to this, but, well . . . the concern was still there.

He waves a hand dismissively. "I'll be fiiine. Youse two sleep well yeah?"

And without waiting for an answer he's scrambling up the tree like a squirrel to flop down on his chosen branch with a blanket he pulled out after getting up the tree. His limbs dangle on either side of the branch to help stabilize him.

"You, too!" the skeleton called up after him.

Hickory squinted up. "I still don't get how he can do that."

The skeleton chuckled and followed them back down under the tent.

Chapter Text

    The night . . . didn't grant the best of sleep. The forest floor isn't the most comfortable place to rest, and the sounds of the nocturnal wildlife were all surrounding. But that was normal for a night out camping.

What wasn't normal was what the skeleton dreamed of. And there wasn't really much remembered upon waking, but the experience itself was horrible. Rushing, at first. Panic. Here, here, no there, no, wait, no-! And then nothing. And then something. But not something right. Something tight, and then loose, too loose, sloughing off the body, and tingling, itching, tiny pinpricks all over inside, horrible, horrible feelings that could neither be located nor stopped-

And the skeleton woke up screaming, a bolt of flame bursting out in the process.

Hickory startled awake, not quite sure what was happening but knowing something was wrong.

Wally was sleeping rather peacefully in his rather odd sleeping spot (how he finds such a stiff uncomfortable tree branch comfy is beyond me), being quite used to camping and tired enough to fall asleep quickly.

He did not expect to be abruptly woken up by screaming and a burst of flame to the side, knocking him out of a tree, forcing him to scrabble in the air to try sand save himself from falling, and causing him to land with an "oof" and a heavy thump, all the wind knocked out of him.

The skeleton noticed none of these things, all attention focused on the hands, the skeletal hands, dead, dead dead dead-  

"Hey, hey, are you okay?" Hickory asked, gently extending an arm forward.

The skeleton startled at that and turned to look at them. What- That- That was . . . Hickory?

Well at least the skeleton was looking at him, though the terror in those eyes was very concerning. "It's okay. You're okay. What happened?"

"I-" the skeleton tried to speak, but was cut off by a sudden sob, and curled up into a ball instead. What was that?

Wally sat up and rubbed his head with a groan, whipping his gaze around to try and decipher where the heck the threat was, scrambling to his feet and shoving his back against a tree as he does. But.. there's no threat. Just.. sobbing.

He takes another cursory glance around before walking over to the tent and poking his head in, blanket still wrapped around his shoulders. Before padding in over to the skeleton and quietly asking, with a gentle pat on the shoulder, "Was it a nightmare kid?"

He looks like he just fell out of a tree.

The skeleton didn't quite respond to that, though the sobs got a little louder. Nightmare. Nightmare. It was just a nightmare. The events of it are already starting to fade but if it was just a nightmare then why does it still feel so bad? Nightmares aren't supposed to be this terrifying. Not . . . Not for the skeleton anyway, that was, that was a thing other people had to deal with, not . . . not . . .

Hickory shifted closer, slowly wrapping an arm around the skeleton, keeping watch in case there were any signs of pulling away. It was quite the opposite, though, as the skeleton leaned into it. "Shhhh, it's okay. It's okay. We're here, alright? Whatever happened in the nightmare isn't happening now. You're safe."

Wally shuffled a little closer, partially draping his blanket (which had a little bit of gentle weight to it) over the skeleton and gently rubbing his back in circles.

"Even if it felt real, it wasn't. It isn't happening buddy. You're here, safe, and alive."

He's not the best at comforting people, but he's trying alright?

The skeleton reached out for the bit of blanket and curled up beneath it. Though the comment of being alive got a strained, tearful chuckle and an, "Am I?"

Hickory shifted forward to take the skeleton's face in his hand. "Yes. You are. You're here talking with us, aren't you? You can feel us and the blanket and the ground, can you not? Of course you're alive. Who cares if you're a skeleton? For all we know you always were one."

"Plenty of toons are skeletons and they're perfectly alive." He puts the whole of the dirty blanket over the skeleton. "You're moving, talking, interacting with people, feeling things, I'd say all of that is pretty alive."

"Plenty of skeleton toons aren't undead skeleton toons."

"And tell me," Hickory said, "what's wrong with undead skeleton toons?

"We're supposed to be dead," the skeleton replied, breaking down into tears again.

He straightens his hat a bit with his free hand as he continues the gentle backrub. "Would you rather be dead?"

Wally lets out a little sigh. "Just 'cause you're undead doesn't mean you aren't alive. It's literally in the name- un dead. You're not dead. Maybe you died once, but you're not dead anymore."

He then thinks for a little bit before launching into a metaphor; "Think about it this way: say something really bad happened to someone, and it was supposed to be permanent, but it got mostly fixed, should they still be under that bad thing? It's okay to be undead, kid."

The skeleton's head dropped down at that question.

Would you rather be dead?

. . . No. No, the skeleton would not rather be dead. Of course not. But . . . well, it felt subpar, in a way. Fully alive was better than undead alive, wasn't it?

The metaphor made the skeleton pause. "I . . . I don't know. I don't . . ."

Why was this so hard? It shouldn't be this hard; what they were saying made sense. But it was also difficult to believe, especially as the skeleton's gaze dropped to those hands, pierced in the middle, damaged. And hurting. Why were they hurting?

"Just 'cause you ain't proper alive doesn't make you 'supposed to be dead'. And, it may be hard to believe, but whatever the heck happens to ya does not define you. It may take a long time to believe that. But youse seem pretty good and I don't know about anyone else, but I'm glad yer not dead, and that I got ta meet'cha!"

Sir I don't think any of that is helpful whatsoever. Oh well, nobody said he was good at comforting people.

Well, it did help a little bit, though the skeleton didn't respond.

Hickory took the skeleton's hands. "The fact of the matter is, you're alive now, undead or not, and we're both glad to know you and be there as you figure yourself out." He was worried about the skeleton, though. The spell wouldn't have worked if the spirit wasn't willing, so he knew this had been accepted, had been wanted, but . . . The skeleton's responses to what they were saying . . . Well, hopefully this would just be a problem after nightmares and not . . . long-standing.

"Yeah! 'Sides, 's not like you're going to spontaneously die again yeah? You just happen to be something now. Like how Hickory here is a dog, or I'm a gremlin." He sounds surprisingly confident in that categorization of himself. Then again, he is a three foot four toon that's mostly covered up with a hat, coat, and scarf. He's pretty gremlin-y.

He sighs again and leans against the skeleton, probably getting more dirt on the blanket as he does such. "Do ya wanna talk about your nightmare? Supposedly that helps sometimes."

"Exactly! So what if you're an undead skeleton? Most people aren't going to know that, anyway. The important thing is that you're you. Even if you're still figuring out what exactly that means."

". . . Okay," was the skeleton's only response to these things. They were still difficult to fully accept and believe, but . . . they were reassurances at least.

Though at that question, the skeleton replied, "I . . . I don't know. I can hardly remember anything, it's all just . . . feelings . . ."

Wally pats their shoulder. "You don't gotta believe it right away kid. Just keep it in mind, yeah?"

He nods at what they say. "Yeah, sometimes nightmares are like that. How did it make ya feel then? If ya have any words for it."

The skeleton nodded, then let out a breath, huddling up further in the blanket. "Terrifying? Like something really bad was going to happen, and then . . . like I was falling apart at the seams."

He grimaces, but it's kind of hard to tell since you can't see his mouth. "Well, you're not falling apart now are ya? And you're safe and away from whatever the heck happened."

"Yeah . . . Yeah . . ." The skeleton shuddered. Though not much else was said aside from that.

Eventually, Hickory spoke up. "Hey. How about we do something, get your mind off of it so you can calm down before going back to sleep?"

"There's still stars out if ya want, or I've got a pack of cards somewhere." He starts rifling around in his coat for the deck of cards as he says this, and continues on as he continues to look for the deck of cards, at one point pulling out a rock, shaking his head, and putting it back in.

"That or we could try and figure out what happened with that firebolt ya let off. I'm pret-ty sure it didn't light the tree on fire so it should be fine."

The skeleton managed a small smile. "I'd love to see the stars again, but I don't think I'm in any state to climb."

Though the mention of letting a firebolt off prompted several blinks. "I . . . What?"

"Let off a firebolt." He deadpans, pointing to a slightly singed spot on the blanket. "So, you're magic!" Jazzhands!

It was at this point the skeleton finally noticed the sticks and dirt and singe marks on Wally, and leaned forward towards him urgently. "Are you alright???"

He waves a hand. "I'm fiiine. Been through worse. Most of it was the fall from the tree." Most of the dirt and sticks? Yes. Most of the actual damage? No that was the firebolt.

"Are you sure?"

He nods. "Yep! Not like I'm going to get into any fights anytime soon or anything yeah? Oh! Found 'em!" He pulls out a deck of, admittedly slightly odd looking cards out of his coat. Or at least, the box is a bit odd. He hasn't taken the cards out yet.

"Do ya know how to play crazy eights?"

"Well . . . Alright, then . . ." Hopefully he'd be alright . . .

The skeleton paused at the mention of cards. "I . . . haven't heard of that, no- Hold on, can we go back to the whole 'letting off a firebolt' thing?"

"When you woke up from your nightmare, I think," Hickory said. "It just kind of flared out of you. So you likely either were a sorcerer before you died, or . . . the resurrection process infused the magic into you."

The skeleton looked down at those pierced hands, contemplative and uncertain.

"I mean, if the spell didn't work all the way the extra magic had to go somewhere yeah? At least youse learned it no harm no fowl, instead of when ya could have hurt yerself or others. Now ya can learn to control it and direct it!"

He's taken the cards out of the box and is fidgeting with them in his hands.

"As if I didn't hurt you in the process," the skeleton said sarcastically. Really now, he can't say the skeleton had learned it "no harm no fowl" when he'd been knocked out of his tree because of it.

"Yeeeah but there's a lot worse people youse could hurt. 'Sides! Ya didn't mean to, you were having a nightmare! Didn't even light anything on fire."

"Still . . ."

Hickory put a hand on the skeleton's shoulder. "Hey. It's alright. Wally seems fine, and it wasn't anything you had control over. We know it's a thing now, so like he said, we can learn how to control and direct it. It'll be alright. It's not your fault."

". . . Okay."

"If it helps any there's probably people who would thank ya for smacking me with it!" He says that far, far too brightly. But then again, he is a criminal.

"Now, ya know any card games?"

". . . Should I be concerned about that?" the skeleton asked, with Hickory giving Wally a concerned look as well.

"Uh . . . A few, yes . . ."

"Nah, some people just don't like me much 's all." Because he steals shit and can be a tad annoying.

"Which ones? Or d'ya wanna learn a new one?"

". . . I think the question still stands," Hickory said.

"Ah . . . I think I'd rather stick with the familiar right now . . ." The skeleton suggested a couple different card games . . . none of which would be recognizable to the others.

"And the answer is still no. Geez I only brought it up ta try and make 'em feel better." He points in the skeleton's direction. Then, gives what can only be described as a shit-eating grin, big enough to poke out from under his scarf. "None of them have caught me yet!"

That's a lie, but they don't have to know that. He refocuses his attention on the card games and blinks rather owlishly at the names the skeleton gives. "Nevah heard of them, you'll have ta teach me. How's the setup go for that first one you mentioned? If it was the first one you thought of ya probably know it the best."

"You say no but every other part of what you're saying implies yes." Both Hickory and the skeleton were concerned about this now. What was Wally doing that made people want to catch him and/or hit him with a firebolt?

The skeleton blinked. ". . . Really? None of those?" They were all rather common though . . . weren't they?

Well, either way, Hickory and Wally would have to be taught to play any of these, so the skeleton started explaining the first one that was mentioned.

He sighs, rubs the bridge of his nose, and gestures. "I'll put it plainly: People do not take kindly to crooks. I am, as it is commonly referred to, a thief, pickpurse, swindler, tea leaf, I'd say highwayman but I don't have a horse, bandit, porch climber, second story man, owl, or burglar. Therefore people do not like me on occasion. Hazard of the job. Well that and the time I knocked over a ladder. I doubt that person likes me much either."

He shakes his head. "Nope! Though I tend ta be a bit behind the times on occasion so who knows! Maybe it's the hot new thing?"

He settles down into being taught easily enough, passing over the cards if needed.

The two blinked. ". . . Oh," the skeleton said. "I suppose that would make sense then."

"Not gonna lie," Hickory added, "I'm surprised you're telling us this. I mean, I suppose I told you I'm a necromancer first, but I had proof from you not freaking out around who I raised." They gestured to the skeleton for emphasis. "You didn't have that from us."

The skeleton chuckled. "The 'hot new thing' from someone who died likely more than a year ago?" The teaching didn't go over too badly, though, especially for one who just woke from a nightmare and was still a little out of it.

"Well what else am I supposed to say ta stop youse two worrying? 'Sides, ya can't really take issue with the person sharing their tent with ya. That! Would just be silly. 'S not like I'm robbing ya!" He huffs, crossing his arms. He's not offended, not really, but it is a weird thing to talk about except with other thieves.

"Hey I mean why not?" He shrugs, "Maybe it's makin' the rounds again or was more obscure 'cept in certain places."

The cards are good sturdy ones, perhaps a bit old fashioned maybe, but honestly the only real noticeable design is that they're decorated with various art supplies, one of each taking the place of the suits. As well as some well-known paintings for the face cards.

Hickory poked him. "As if it doesn't make us worry about your wellbeing in a different way. Are you stealing to survive or for other reasons?" If to survive, well, they couldn't really fault him for that. Otherwise, though, they'd be keeping an eye out.

Besides, it's not like Wally didn't have blackmail now, anyway. If they sold him out as a thief, he could always sell them out as a necromancer. But they were glad he seemed to truly want to help, and not rob them in the process. And he was helping the skeleton recover from that nightmare, too.

"Perhaps, I suppose." They kept playing as they conversed, the skeleton going easy on them as they figured out the basics.

He shifts away from the poke. "Nah! It's just fun. Mostly just practice really, nicking anything worth too much gets the coppers on the lookout for ya!" He let out a little chuckle at that. Not that he hasn't done it to survive, not that he doesn't do it to survive on occasion. But they don't need to know that.

"'Sides! Plenty of work around if ya know where to look!"

"Hey! Maybe if youse can find someone else who knows the same games you can find a clue!" Wally isn't doing the most amazing at picking up the game, but he's doing his best.

Okay, yes, definitely keeping an eye out, then. At least he didn't take anything too valuable? Unless he was straight up lying, which was entirely possible. "Be careful with that, though. Something that might not seem worth much to you could be priceless in terms of emotional value to the person you're taking it from."

The skeleton looked up. ". . . What are you practicing for, anyway?"

". . . Maybe. Unless most people know them and I just got really unlucky with you two," the skeleton teased.

"I doubt anyone is going to horribly miss thrift store garbage." He deadpans. "And if they do, it's not like I keep everything I steal!"

He shrugs. "For anything? Not really. But practice keeps the skills sharp, and that!" He snaps, "can be more useful than anything else. Even if ya don't use something much it still comes in handy sometimes yeah?"

He puts his hands up. "You got me! Maybe ya did! Wouldn't be the first time multiple people didn't know about something."

"That's the point. It may look like thrift store garbage, and hey, maybe it is, but it could be thrift store garbage they got from a family member or close friend who died, or the first gift their partner gave them. It looks worthless, but it could be emotionally priceless to the person."

"So you sometimes steal things just to give them back?" the skeleton questioned.

"I suppose that's true, but stealing is, ah . . . Hm. An odd way to practice, and rather risky. Why not other sleight-of-hand related ways to practice, such as being a magician?"

"No I mean literally thrift store garbage. Well. Sometimes it's from the junkyard. It is not anything people care about." Well except when it is. But those typically get given back.

He nods. "Yea! One, it's funny. And two, if I kept everything I stole, I would have even more junk in my hammerspace wouldn't I?" He says as if finding things in it and how much garbage is in it has any bearing on each other.

He shrugs, then waves a hand and with a little flourish, a card appears in it (he puts it down, it's his next play in the card game), "legerdemain and stealing, while they have overlap, are different. Magicians are all about being noticed and unnoticed at the same time, while thievery is all about being unnoticed. Distraction and misdirection versus stealth yeah?"

Hickory looked at him, skeptical. He didn't think it'd be so easy to tell the difference if it was some random stranger.

The skeleton gave a head shake. "I don't understand you . . ." The words were understood perfectly but just . . . why he'd do that in the first place. "And you say that as if hammerspaces aren't inherently difficult to find things in." Or at least, sometimes they were. It really depended on the day.

Oh! Well apparently he did know some magician-y stuff. "Yes but there's much more risk associated with thievery."

". . . I'm getting the feeling he likes the risk," Hickory commented.

He shrugs with a grin. "The more junk in it the more to keep track of." There's probably things he doesn't even remember in there lets be honest.

He points at Hickory. "Now you're getting it! What's life without a little bit of risk? 'Sides, there's ways to minimize the risk if you're skilled."

For someone who seems to be very enthusiastic for risk and adventure he really sits quite still doesn't he?

"Hm, I suppose that's true enough."

"Well, I apparently died, so I think I'll be staying on the less-risky side of things from now on. Do be careful yourself, though."

"I don't think we'll be able to change his mind," Hickory chuckled.

He shrugs "Fair enough." Hard to argue with the argument of 'literally has died before.'

"Don't worry 'bout me, I am extremely careful when stealing!" No he's not. This man does not have an ounce of common sense. He is however a mild coward, which is probably how he hasn't died yet.

"You say not to worry about you but something tells me you should be worried about," the skeleton replied.

"Psh- nahhh. I've been doing this for ages! Haven't died yet." And he usually manages to escape jail time. Usually.

"Keyword yet. But even then it's not death that I'm worried about but just getting hurt in general, or, you know, going to jail?"

"Kid, I am probably older than you, even including whatever time you lived before you died, and I haven't spent any serious time in jail yet. I think I will be fine. 'Sides! Everyone gets hurt sometimes, it's just knowing how to deal with it!" He means like. Taking a rest and stuff. Maybe visiting a healer. Not ignore the wound.

"Serious time in jail," the skeleton repeated. So he had gotten caught before.

"The longer you go without getting in serious trouble, the more complacent you get," Hickory added. "If you've been doing it for a while you might slip up."

"Yeah. It doesn't happen because I never steal anything worth serious time. Also-" he shifts his hand and it looks very strange for a moment as he gives a visual reminder that he is, in fact, almost paper thin from one angle. Then he puts his hand back to a normal angle. "It's kind of easy to get out unless they've got something fancy going on."

"Ehhh not gonna say you're wrong with that but if I'm going to slip up that badly then I'm kinda asking for it at that point." Casual shrug. "'Sides, it doesn't take serious trouble to remind people of mortality if that's what you're worried about. Sometimes it's just like. Falling off a ladder."

"You know I did NOT expect to get lectured on safety when I told youse two I'm a criminal. But maybe I should have. Yer both kind of bleeding hearts."

"I do suppose that's an advantage, yes . . ." Being able to just slip out like that . . . well, he'd be difficult to keep in place, and for petty thievery it likely wouldn't be worth the effort to do so.

"Just be careful, is what I'm saying," Hickory said.

He splayed his arms out. "You've caught me. I'm the kind of necromancer who's in it to preserve life, not make undead servants or anything. I care about people."

"As if I'm not already?" Sir you got knocked out of a tree not long ago.

"Yeah I kinda figured considering," he gestures at the skeleton.

Hickory raised their hands in defense. "I know nothing about your practices; just saying it just in case."

They grinned and tilted their head at the skeleton. "Exactly! And, ah, I know I already said this when I first raised you, but I do REALLY apologize about the whole lack of memory thing."

The skeleton held up a finger. "Stop. You've already apologized, nothing can be done about it, and you said I was your first so I can't really blame you for mixing something up. It's a difficult spell."

"Fair enough."

He thinks for a bit. "Do ya even know it was something wrong with the spell specifically?"

Hickory paused. ". . . I think so? I don't know what else it would be. It's supposed to heal all wounds, restore all missing material, and, like . . . make them them again. Including memories." They gestured at the holes in the skeleton's hands. "At the very least we know something went wrong because of this. And that's okay. I own that. It was a mistake."

Wally nods. "Fair enough! I ain't no wizard. Maybe if ya know any other necromancers they'll have input on it? I don't know how social ya are."

"I know a few." They chuckled. "Had to learn from somewhere. I'm planning on talking to them when I get home. See if they can help any." They looked back at the skeleton. "So long as that's okay with you? I'm not exactly keen to leave someone without memories all alone, so I'm more than happy to offer you a place to stay if you'll accept."

". . . Oh." The skeleton blinked, then smiled. "Well if you're offering then I'll be happy to take you up on it. Not exactly like I have anywhere else to stay, anyway."

He bobs his head. "That's good. And good youse two are sticking together! Might help ya find out what went wrong more easily yeah?"

"Hopefully!"

"And if not," the skeleton added, "having somewhere stable to be while figuring myself out would be really helpful . . ."

"Oh, speaking of figuring yourself out," Hickory said, looking up from the cards, "have you figured out which pronouns you want to try first?"

The skeleton let out a thoughtful breath. ". . . Maybe start by switching between he-him and xe-xem? They were the first two on the list, anyway." Xe could feel them out for a while and see how it goes.

Hickory gave xem a soft smile. "Sure. He and xe then."

"Alright pal!" Wally nods to xem. "And let us know if they don't feel right or you wanna try something else yeah?"

The skeleton smiled. "Yeah. I will. Thank you."

"Of course." Hickory paused. "Have you had any thoughts on a name?"

The skeleton shook his head. "Not yet. I'm too tired to think well enough for something like that right now." It would come eventually, he was sure, but . . . not now.

"Names can be a lot, so remember to take your time on it. But also remember you can always change it if ya aren't as thrilled with your first pick! It ain't set in stone."

The skeleton gave a small smile. "I'll keep that in mind. Thank you."

"No problem!" He turns back to the game before blinking in thought. "Hey if I come across anything that might help with the whole spell thing where the heck would I find youse two?"

Yes, yes he is planning to visit if he passes by.

"Oh, that'd be all the way back in Toontown. I have a flowershop there called Unwilted Wonders you'll be able to find us at." He paused. "Can I ask the same of you?"

He shrugs. "I travel. Sooo... It's unlikely you'll actually find me! But I got a friend over in Dreamworkers I visit sometimes if ya really need to find me. Actually- I got one of their business cards here somewhere..."

He starts to pat his coat as if searching his non existent pockets. He also looks into his hat and up his sleeves, before reaching over and pulling a business card out from behind Hickory's ear and presenting it to him. "Here it is!"

Knowing the troubles of finding things in a hammerspace, Hickory and the skeleton paid the shuffling no mind, though when Wally reached up and grabbed behind Hickory's ear, it gave the dog a start, and then a laugh. "Who knew I was connected to your hammerspace," he said jokingly.

He chuckles along with Hickory. "Nah that's legerdemain. Sure makes it look like it though!" He has likely fooled people with such before.

Hickory chuckled and took the business card, looking it over with the skeleton before putting it into their hammerspace.

It wasn't long before they finished their game, and Hickory looked back at xem. "Are you ready to go back to sleep?"

"I . . . I think I can try, at least."

"Hey, if ya can't sleep in the end youse can always stay up. Though I wouldn't recommend it since- y'know." He vaguely gestures as he's putting away the cards.

The business card is fairly simple, one side containing a fire design, the name "Straa Kroh" and the designation of "warlock". And on the other side is an address with a couple vague directions on how to get to their house from a town that's nearby apparently.

"Yeah. I will try, though, but . . . Yeah."

"Welp! Good luck sleeping," he claps a hand on the skeleton's shoulder then gestures to outside the tent. "I'm going back to my spot."

And with that he scurries out, leaving the blanket.

The skeleton didn't really notice that Wally left the blanket until he started curling up with it. ". . . Wait, did he mean to leave this here? What if it rains?"

Hickory paused. ". . . Good question. I'll go ask him." And with that he climbed out from under the tent, going up to the tree Wally was perched in. ". . . Hey, did you mean to leave your blanket?" He spoke quietly, in case this was one of those wanting to be nice without SAYING anything about it kind of things.

He peers out of the tree and shrugs. "Maybe it will help. I've got a jacket, I'll be fine."

"Alright." They gave him a soft smile. "Thank you for that. He'll appreciate it, I know."

He waves a hand dismissively. "Not a problem, just get some sleep yeah?"

"Yeah. And you, too." They waved goodnight at him and headed back to the tent, hoping for some good sleep, both for themself and the skeleton.

Wally goes back to being flopped over the branch, falling asleep decently quickly.

Morning comes soon enough with sleep, perhaps a bit too soon. I doubt anyone would mind the group sleeping in a little with how much time they spent awake.

And sleep in they did, though for the skeleton it was more like waking at dawn and lying on xyr back listening to the morning wildlife. In fact, despite the tiredness, xe didn't even stay there for long. There was so much activity going on outside, and xe wanted to see what was going on.

So when the others awoke, it was to find the skeleton wandering around their little area, following the sounds of whatever animal caught xyr interest next.

Fortunately for the skeleton, Wally sleeps like the dead. So xe didn't even need to worry about waking him. And it's a solid couple hours after dawn before he so much as twitches, stretching from on the branch before shifting to silently watch xem wander.

This went unnoticed by the skeleton, until he watched a bird flit by in the tree Wally was in and caught his gaze. He blinked. "Oh. Good morning."

He waves and grins. "Mornin'! You look like you're having fun."

He smiled. "I am! There's, just . . . There's so much out here. Like, is that a reelkind bird?"

He nods. "Yep! There's reelkind animals all over the continent, If ya stay quiet you can see quite a few!"

"The continent?" the skeleton questioned, still watching the bird as it flitted from branch to branch.

He pats the tree branch he's on. "It's the land we're on right now. Like a really big island."

"Oh." Weird. Was it another word for world? Or, no, it was probably just there to specify the land. The word continent didn't seem to include the ocean. "I'd love to see what's all out there." Xe didn't really know much about reelkind, only that they existed. Xe wanted to know more.

"Well once ya have more stuff figured out maybe you can try travelling? Visit different cities and see things on the way!" That's what he does for the most part.

He smiled softly. ". . . Yeah. Yeah, that sounds good."

It wasn't long after that that Hickory slowly padded out from under the tent, stretching as they did so.

Wally is still flopped in the tree, and he waves at Hickory. "Mornin' Hickory!"

"Morning! How'd everyone sleep?"

"Better than the first attempt," the skeleton replied.

"Like a rock! How about you?"

"Alright! Woke up once or twice but eh. That's camping. Now, point of order: food. I didn't expect to stay here this long and have nothing."

"I got jerky?" He takes off his hat and pulls out a bag of dried meat and fruit. "It's not like. Ridiculous. But it's food."

"Good enough for now," Hickory said.

The skeleton looked at the jerky uncertainly. Could he eat? Most skeleton toons could, yes, but he was undead. Would he still be able to? He didn't feel hungry . . .

He gets up to climb down the tree and looks at the skeleton. "It's not bad if that's what you're worried about that." And he starts climbing down! Easy Peasy.

"Oh, no, I'm just wondering if I can eat or not in the first place."

"Well, I suppose we'll be finding out soon, if you'd like to try it," Hickory said.

Wally hops down from where he was climbing and holds out the open bag in offering to the others to take some. He's got a piece of jerky in his mouth he's chewing on.

The others did indeed take some, though the skeleton more uncertainly. He nibbled on it carefully and . . . well it seemed he could taste at least! Which was definitely a plus. And it looked like he could fully eat it, too!

The skeleton smiled. "Suppose I can, then."

It sure does taste! The jerky is salty and the dried fruit is... dried fruit. I don't know what to tell ya.

"Hey there ya go then! Probably a good thing too in case ya ever get into trouble and need to down a health potion. Because if you eat you can probably drink!"

The skeleton blinked. "I didn't even think about that. That would be good, yes." Though hopefully he'd never be in such a situation to need one in the first place.

"Well now ya don't need to think about that! Probably."

He takes another bite of jerky and chews for a bit before asking "So what's youse guys' plans for today?"

"That's a good question," Hickory stated. "I'll probably have to go back to Toontown soon; again, I wasn't planning on staying here this long, and I'd already been here longer than I meant to even before I found you," they looked at the skeleton at this, "but finding any clues as to where you came from is also important . . ."

". . . Hickory, you have no food or place to stay. Besides, I've already been here for a year or more apparently. If there's anything here that might give us any clues, it'll probably still be here whenever we come back."

"You make a good point. And we need to talk to those necromancers I mentioned to see if they have any ideas, too."

"Definitely get yerself sorted better before looking for more clues out here. Ya don't want to end up going hungry or getting sick from rain out in the middle 'o nowhere!"

"Yeah. And honestly?" He looked back at the skeleton. "Right now, I feel like figuring out who you are now is more important than figuring out who you used to be. Find some things you like to do, see if there's any clothing style you like, find your favorite foods. Discover you."

The skeleton paused. Then offered a small smile. "I'll try, at least."

"Once was can always be found out later, now is typically the most pressing topic. And hey!" He nudges the skeleton with his elbow; "Finding out what you like now might lead to hints at what you once were like!"

"Yeah!" Hickory added. "Why would your interests change just because you died?"

The skeleton laughed. "That's the strangest sentence I've ever heard. But yeah. Yeah, that's a good place to start."

"There ya go then! Ya want more jerky?" He holds out the bag again in offering.

"Sure," xe said with a smile, taking some out of the bag. "Thanks for your help, Wally. Really."

"No problem! Not like I had any plans."

And the group enjoys their food, say their goodbyes, and go their separate ways, ready to meet again another day.

Chapter Text

And it's perhaps a month before they see each other again, Wally coming to Toontown to visit, see if they've figured things out.

But first, he's slipping through an alleyway and peeking from around a corner, scoping out a grocery with fruit displayed out front. Because what's a visit anywhere this big without some minor thievery?

He did not anticipate getting caught.

A lot had happened for the skeleton this past month. A lot had been discovered and figured out. Not the least of which was a name. Nebula Rose was his name now, from his favorite thing in the night sky and his favorite type of flower. And he'd very much been sticking with the he/him pronouns, though was still trying out some others on the side.

He'd just been heading out to get some groceries when he noticed . . . well, a familiar face! A . . . familiar face that was . . . eyeing the fruit display in a very suspicious way. Oh, stars . . .

Well, he had to put a stop to this, so he nabbed Wally by the back of his scarf, saying at the same time, "Absolutely not."

He let out a yelp upon being grabbed, squirming around in Nebula's grasp until he sees who it is. "Let me- Oh! Heyyyy kid! Fancy seeing you here!"

Wally flops rather like a ragdoll. Or a scruffed cat. Once he stops squirming. Though he does tilt his head to try and look at Nebula.

"How ya doing pal?"

"Alright. Stopping you from stealing apparently," he replied with a bit of a smirk.

He did put him down though, expecting him not to attempt to steal anything with someone looking directly at him. "I was just about to go shopping there, actually. Care to come with? Without shoplifting anything?"

"Who me? Stealing? Never!" He huffs jokingly.

He pats himself off a bit after being out down before looking back up at Nebula. "Sure! What'cha planning to get?"

Nebula nudged him playfully. "Sure." But he told him some of the things he remembered off his list and started leading him inside. "If you really want something, too, I can buy it for you, within reason. I mean, I know you do it for the thrill rather than the need, but still."

He nods along as he's told the items, making a mental note to point them out if he spots them. And then shakes his head at the offer to buy him things. "Nah it's fine. I've got money!"

"Alright," he chuckled.

Then he realized something and exclaimed, "Oh! What do you think?" as he spun once, showing off the suit and scarf that he was in.

He blinks for a second before realizing what Nebula means and giving a thumbs up. "Lookin' snazzy kid! I take it ya found clothes ya like?"

"Yeah! Found them pretty quick, too. Oh!" He smiled. "I've got a name now, too!"

"Really? That's great! What is it?"

He did a short little bow. "Nebula Rose."

He claps a couple times (quietly). "Oooh that's a good one! How'd ya come up with it?"

Nebula laughed a little. "Just went through some favorite things that sounded good together. And I like it!" Of course he did. If he didn't, he wouldn't have named himself after it.

"That's good! That's one of the most important parts of a name! Glad ya found one ya liked kid!" He just learned Nebula's name and he isn't even going to use it. Don't worry he'll say it eventually.

He grinned. "Thanks!" He kept walking through the store, looking out for things he needed. "I'm still sticking with the he pronouns, too. Trying out a couple others as well, but the he is good."

Wally nods. "That's good to know!"

As they walk and talk, Wally's hand sneaks out to nick a boxed good off the shelf. Yes he is really trying this with Nebula right there .

Aaaaaand up in the air he goes again, this time tucked under the skeleton's arm. "Absolutely not," he repeated.

He chuckles. "I might as well try yeah?" He is absolutely fine being held like a suitcase. He's pretty light after all.

"Oh hush. You can do all that when I'm not around."

Shrug. "Fair enough." That is absolutely not going to stop him trying. You know when you try and discourage a cat from something and they just treat it like a game? That is literally this. He will continue to try.

"So why d'ya need the stuff you're buying anyways? Just happened to run out or?"

"Just the normal grocery shopping, yes. Wasn't expecting to find you here, too, but I must say I'm pleasantly surprised." Has he let go of Wally? No, no he hasn't.

"Hey I wasn't expecting to see you here either! But it's nice ta see ya again and catch up!" This is his life now. Being carried so he can't steal shit. He is perfectly fine with it.

At least he's not hard to carry. Very shape and not ridiculously heavy. Which might be because he's very small and might be because he's very thin.

"Yeah! And speaking of, how have things been going with you? I've given you my update."

"Pretty good! Travellin', picking up odd jobs, did some magic on a street corner last town and didn't have a license in that town so had to escape the coppers, as ya do! Haven't found anything that might help with yer thing though. Maybe a couple thoughts but really not much." He's just visiting to be friendly and because he was in the area :>

Nebula hadn't even been thinking about whether or not he'd find anything to help with who he'd used to be. Although the update was nice. "That's alright. We haven't gotten much further with all that either. Met some new friends, though."

He'd been nervous, being introduced to the other necromancers and some of the people they'd raised. It didn't help that Hickory had been nervous, too, no doubt embarrassed about messing up with the resurrection . . .

But things had turned out okay, and he'd made friends with people even outside of Hickory's friend group.

"That's good! It's important to make friends. Did any of them know yer card games?" He's just glad to hear Nebula is making friends despite the botched resurrection.

Nebula chuckled. "As of yet, no. So I suppose it wasn't just you two." He had been teaching them to them, though, if they were interested, so he supposed he was potentially spreading games from an unknown culture.

"Guess not. But if ya thought they were common they must have been common somewhere yeah? So maybe it's just not in this region. There's plenty o' more isolated areas." Maybe it's from a different continent even! Who knows? (We do but shh. They don't.)

"That's true." He chuckled. "Either that or only a few people knew them and we played them often." There were a lot of unknowns here. Many possible explanations. And no solid clues.

"Ooh that's a good thought too." He rests a hand on his chin and makes a thinking face. "Well assumin' whoever ya played it with isn't also dead then it's still possible to find 'em?"

"It might be! Either way, finding someone else who knows these things will probably lead to some sort of clues." Hopefully big ones, too.

He bobs his head energetically. "Yeah!" And then gets distracted by spotting things. "Oh! Hey! That's one of the things on yer list kid!"

"Oh! Thank you," he said, picking it up.

They continued shopping like that for a bit, and luckily Nebula didn't have much to grab this trip so they were able to carry everything between the two of them - without Nebula putting Wally down. He only did so after they had paid and were back outside.

"So how long are you planning on staying?" he asked, heading back to the flower shop.

Wally is most certainly not against helping carry things while being carried. Nor after being put down.

He wiggles a hand. "Ehh couple days to a week, depends on if I gets wrapped up in anything. Some odd jobs take more time than others."

"Do you have anywhere to stay?"

"Yeah, why would I go anywhere if I didn't have a place to stay?" He looks up at Nebula like ??? but secretly he's planning to sleep like a homeless gremlin in an alleyway or abandoned building instead of staying at an inn.

Nebula stopped and looked at him. "Wally, you slept in a tree the day we met."

"Because we weren't in a town with plenty of places to sleep and youse two were using the tent." To be fair to him he does use the tent sometimes when out in the middle of nowhere. Sometimes.

Well, that was a good point. "Where are you staying, then?"

He hummed a bit before replying "Haven't decided exactly where yet. There's a few places I've stayed when here before and at this time 'o year they're never full so I figured I don't have to worry about it until later."

". . . You know, if you want to sleep somewhere where you won't have to pay, you could always stay with us. We owe you for allowing us your tent, anyway. Just so long as you, you know, don't steal anything from the shop."

Waving a hand dismissively he replies, "Nah it's fine. I can find somewhere to sleep just fine."

"Well, alright, but the offer stands."

"And if I need to I'll take ya up on it. In the meantime though we should probably take these groceries back."

Nebula chuckled. "Yeah."

It wasn't long before they got back to the shop, and upon walking in the skeleton called out, "Got some help along the way."

"Help?" Hickory asked, turning around from what they were doing. "What h- Oh!" They smiled. "Long time no see."

"Long time no see! How ya doin' pal?" he waves despite carrying groceries.

"Doing quite well I think," they said, holding a hand out to help with some of the groceries. "How about you?"

He passes them over because lets be honest: he's like three feet tall and doesn't know the layout he's not going to be much help putting them away.

"I'm doing good! Your shop is really nice."

Hickory and Nebula started putting them away.

"Why thank you! I do try my best."

Wally can help with any low stuff at least.

"I'd be surprised if you didn't get plenty of business! It's well set up."

Hickory chuckled. "I get enough to live off of, at least, which is the important part."

"That's always the important part. No sense doing anything if ya can't manage because of it!"

"Didn't you mention doing some things on the side, too?" Nebula asked.

Hickory shrugged. "I don't advertise it, but if someone wants me to come out so they can speak with a lost loved one one more time, I'll go out there. If they want to pay me for it, I certainly won't turn that down." Well, he'd turn it down for friends, or people who seemed especially distraught, but for most others he's fine taking some compensation if they offer.

He nods. "Makes sense. Not everyone takes kindly to well..." He vaguely gestures. "And if they're seeking ya out for yer skills they're probably fine with it."

"Exactly. It mostly spreads by word of mouth, among circles where such things are accepted. It's mainly speaking with the dead that I offer right now, at least until I get more practice with actual resurrection."

"Very sensible, especially considerin' what happened." He pauses for a second before... "Oh! I haven't found anything out by the way. Unfortunately only a coupl'a half baked thoughts that might not be very helpful."

"Well, hearing them might still prove useful. What do you got?"

"Okay. I'm gonna preface this with the fact that the idea is pret-ty out there 'cause what i'm gonna suggest doesn't happen much. But it is maybe-sorta possible? At least from my knowledge but I ain't no expert."

"Shoot." They were still curious, after all.

He takes a deep breath and does the 'boi' gesture but outside the 'boi' context. "There is a possibility that Nebula was cursed somehow before he died. But a big one. Which might sound weird if ya don't know a lot about them. But they stick around even after death and have a myriad of effects so if he was cursed that might'a messed with the revival?"

He sounds a bit unsure about it all. Not really particularly wanting to suggest it and be laughed at. Most people don't really encounter big curses after all.

"Like I said though I ain't no expert on the subject so it's entirely possible somethin' else happened." How he even knows about these things is anyone's guess. He's a thief not a wizard.

Hickory paused. "That's a possibility, actually. Resurrection spells don't remove curses."

Well, now Nebula was a little nervous at the thought of possibly having been cursed.

"If it was a small one ya could just go to a healer or temple and ask if any of them knew the spell 'remove curse'. But if it's a big one, there tends ta be not a lot you can do about them unless ya know the solution, assuming there is one. Though sometimes that solution ain't something ya wanna do persay."

"But if it's just a memory curse, there probably ain't any other negative effects other than what ya've already seen." He scrunches up his face a bit in thought; "At least that's what I've heard. I ain't actually met anyone with a memory curse on 'em. But they tend to be pretty one or two note things the big curses."

". . . That's a good idea, yes," Nebula said. "Finding someone who can remove curses just in case it is one." If there was any potential way for this to be fixed, he wanted it to be fixed now. He didn't like this, this amnesia. He wanted to know who he was.

He rubs the back of his neck. "That friend I told ya about has some experience with curses, but ya can probably find someone a lot closer. Minor curses ain't as uncommon as major ones. Especially if there's a very grumpy or mischievous magic-user with cursing capacity around!"

He's back in... Maybe not his element. But it's definitely more comfortable than telling people they're maybe cursed. He's got a bit of a half cocked grin like 'ha ha ain't that wild.'

"Yeah. Yeah, I'll be looking around." Would memory loss count as a minor curse, though, or a major one?

He paused. "If I were cursed, though, and it was from sometime before I died . . . Why wouldn't I remember anything in that space between forgetting and dying? Surely I'd have at least a little bit from that, correct?"

"Possibly, but also, the curse mighta reset or something due to dyin' or had something to do with dyin' in the first place. Like if someone planned on ya dyin', they could have cast a curse ta fuck ya over if anyone tried ta bring ya back."

"That's true . . ."

"We won't know until we try to get rid of it as if it was one," Hickory said.

"We can start working on that tomorrow, maybe?"

"Yeah. Tomorrow sounds good."

He nods. "When ya don't know, it's just trial and error."

"Pretty much."

They finished putting all the groceries away and settled down. "What updates has Nebula given you?" Hickory asked.

"A solid amount!" He starts listing things out on his fingers as he goes. "Let's see... Snazzy outfit, Name, Pronouns, meeting new people, they didn't know the card games, that kinda thing!"

Hickory chuckled. "He was quick to tell you things."

Nebula shrugged. "They're exciting things!"

"Well what else were we gonna do other than catch up? Plus, knowin' he's got a name now is good!"

"Yeah," Hickory said, giving the skeleton a soft smile. It'd only been a month - though it probably felt longer than that to him given that that was all he knew - but Nebula had been growing into himself and it was really cool to watch. They were glad.

Nebula returned it. He still . . . really wanted to know who he used to be. But even just these little things were good.

Wally smiles at the pair (not that they can see it). It's good they're getting things settled and figured out and are getting along with each-other.

After a moment he rocks on his heels and breaks the silence. "Well, do we want to hang out and play cards or something?"

Hickory chuckled. "I do still have a shop to manage, you know." They'd gone upstairs to put the groceries away, but now they started drifting back towards the door. They couldn't stay up here for too long when not on break, after all.

"What'd you think, anyway? You must've passed through to come up here."

He gave a sheepish shrug. "I didn't know if ya had it open today considerin' grocery shoppin'!"

As soon as he is asked what he thinks about the flower shop he smiles just thinking about it as he launches into complimenting it; "It's a very nice flower shop, I like how ya arranged everything and where the counter is is a nice touch. It feels nice to be in, which, I think, is one of the more important aspects of a flower shop."

He ends with a little decisive nod like yes the good vibes are the most important part of that whole thing.

"I only really ask Nebula to help out occasionally, so he was free to go get them while I stayed at the shop. But thank you!" Hickory was glad at that. Good vibes are especially important.

"You're not obligated to help or buy anything," Nebula said, "but would you like to look around it a little?"

Wally gives a slow nod. "Makes sense." And the nod is a lot quicker and more excited upon being asked whether or not he wants to look around! "Certainly!"

Nebula laughed. "Well come on, then!" he said, following Hickory down.

Wally eagerly follows! He likes flower shops.

While Hickory continued looking over the shop, Nebula went showing Wally around. He was particularly excited about the enchanted flowers. They were more expensive and there were only a few of course, as enchanting took time and energy, but they were his favorites.

Wally is having an amazing time looking at all the flowers and taking in the atmosphere of just. Being in a flower shop. Because flower shops are great! He asks plenty of questions about the flowers and occasionally calls them odd names (excused as people in certain areas calling them that). He even suggests that maybe Nebula could try learning how to enchant flowers too if he thought them so cool.

Nebula laughed. "No, I know how. Though I didn't help with these. They're just my favorites, but, well, I suppose I wouldn't have been involved in the magical sciences if I wasn't drawn to magical things. Hickory and I are working on making something that'll be an arcane focus for me, though. It's almost done."

"Makes sense. And that's lovely! A rose I presume?" He doesn't know what an arcane focus is quite but he does know Nebula likes roses.

Nebula Rose laughed. "A rose that will look like a nebula."

"Ha! Your name and focus will match!"

"Exactly! I'm excited to finally be able to use it soon." It'd add a splash of color to his suit, too.

"I bet you'll be great with it!"

"I just hope it'll be able to hold up for a while."

"I mean, youse two are the ones making it, I don't doubt you'll do a great job on it that makes it last!" This is undue confidence in Hickory and Nebula's ability considering most of his knowledge of them using spells involves a botched resurrection and Wally getting knocked out of a tree by a firebolt. But it's the thought that counts.

Nebula laughed. "You've hardly even seen us do any magic before! If I recall correctly, your experience with my magic was getting accidentally hit by it during a nightmare."

"So? Ya still conjured it half asleep and terrified outta yer wits!"

"Which has nothing to do with the stability of it. Have you seen the effects of wild magic?"

He squints, thinking, before shaking his head. "Never heard of it."

How? I really don't know.

"Oh, stars." Nebula looked up towards the ceiling, sighing, before looking down at Wally. "Whenever I cast a spell, there's a chance that . . . something will happen in addition to that. Sometimes that something is a change in height. Sometimes it's a second spell that goes off on its own immediately afterwards. Sometimes it's taking a short visit through the astral plane. It's very much not stable."

"Ahhh..." he nods in understanding and does his best to look absolutely calm and not step back away from Nebula because that is mildly terrifying! Despite his skin being what one would swear is white, he seems to pale a little. It's almost unnoticeable. He then internally forces himself to calm down and pats Nebula as high as he can reach (probably about his upper side considering he's half the height of Nebula).

"That's rough buddy."

Nebula gave an uncertain smile. "Luckily it doesn't happen that often. But it's still happened, what, twice now? Since I was resurrected?"

"Hopefully it doesn't happen too much more often than that yeah?"

He gave a dry chuckle. "Oh, it'll keep happening, unless I'm killed a second time. That's just how wild magic sorcery works, and it's become quite clear that that's what this is. It's just . . . I hope the majority of the effects end up being benign."

He nods in understanding. "Hey, maybe someday you can control it a bit?"

"Maybe. I think you eventually end up with a little bit of control, but . . . it's a lot of effort and practice to get to that point."

"Well hey, any control is better than no control ain't it?"

"Yeah. It'll just . . . take years. Potentially decades, depending."

"Ahhh... Well the other option would be to try not to use your magic I'd bet. And that seems like it has an issue waiting to happen rolling into it." If it goes unused it can build up and expel. Does NOT sound like a good idea. At least that's his guess anyways. Not to mention Nebula wouldn't be able to protect himself if something went wrong.

"At least you'll get'ch yer magic under control someday?"

Nebula chuckled. "I don't think that'll be an option." That first night wasn't the only time he'd expelled magic due to a nightmare.

"Yeahhh so yer best bet is probably just practicin' and hopin' for the best."

"Probably," he agreed with a sigh.

He nudges Nebula with his elbow. "Hey! At least ya know it'll get better eventually!"

"Yeah. Yeah, probably," he said with a smile. "We just, have to get to that point first."

"Which, unless you die again, you will!"

"Eventually. Years, maybe decades from now." It was going to hurt people. He knew it. That long? It was inevitable. And technically, he'd already hurt Wally, even if he'd just brushed it off that night.

"It'll come sooner than ya think! Time feels faster the older ya are." He has experience with this.

"I'm aware of that, but still." That won't change the fact that people might get hurt in the meantime.

"So if yer worried about it just try and use yer magic with some safety precautions! If you don't know what's gonna happen, prepare for anything! That's what my ma always said."

"There's a lot of potential things wild magic can do. Trying to prepare for all of them . . ."

"Then generalize kid. Worried about fire? Carry something to smother fire! Worried about random goats? Bring something to distract goats! Easy peasy. Also youse can just try and stand away from people when ya use yer magic."

"That's still a lot to try to prepare for!" Standing away while using magic would probably be the most useful thing, but even still, some of the ranges on these things . . . Well, depending on where everyone is, that might not be possible.

He shrugs. "Then ya just get a bunch of random useful stuff to carry with ya! I recommend rope."

"I can try. But I feel like that's all I can do."

"Well yeah? You don't have to succeed, just make the attempt and learn from it!"

He sighed. "Yeah. Yeah, I suppose that's how things work . . ." He didn't like it, though. He didn't want others to get hurt, intentionally or not.

Pat pat Nebula's side. "Nobody's infallible. If someone tells you they are, they're probably lying."

"Of course not. I know that."

He puts his hands up placatingly. "I ain't saying ya didn't! But a reminder is always good yea?"

He sighed again. "I guess. Just . . ." He shook his head. "No, no I'm not going to say any more. We'll just keep ending up talking in circles."

"How'd we even manage to start that in the place?”

Nebula shrugged. "Learning to enchant and explanations of wild magic."

"Fair enough. Pretty wild result to end up with though eh?" Horrible pun Wally.

Nebula snorted, then laughed. What kind of toon would he be if he didn't enjoy a pun every now and again? Still, he nudged Wally. "That was terrible."

"But'cha laughed at it!" He snickers.

"Doesn't change that it was a terrible pun," he said, still chuckling. "But yes, I did laugh at it."

"So in the end it couldn't'a been that bad a pun now could it?"

"Bad puns can be laughed at."

"And so can good ones!"

"Also true. Those two statements do not contradict."

"So it's all just a matter of opinion." No, that was a horrible pun.

"That was objectively a terrible pun."

He shrugs. "Unless ya really like bad puns"

"Really liking bad puns requires the puns to be bad in the first place."

He opens his mouth to reply, then closes it. "Ya got me there!"

Nebula laughed and patted his hat. "Now come on. There are some outside displays, too."

"Alright!" He's gonna follow Nebula outside then!

The skeleton led Wally outside, showing off some of the flowers currently on display.

He thinks they're very nice. Though they'd be really easy to steal because you can't see them from inside. But also why would someone steal a flower.

"How often do you come to Toontown?" Nebula questioned, absentmindedly getting rid of dead leaves and flowerheads.

"Not often, there's so many places everywhere that it's hard to go anywhere particularly often! Toontown's a bit more common due to bein' a pretty big city though."

"Ah, I suppose that'd make sense with how much you seem to travel. What brings you back to Toontown in the first place, then?"

"I was passin' by. Remembered Hickory said his shop was in Toontown, figured I'd visit!"

"Awwwww you came just for us?" He was teasing. Well, mostly.

"Maybe I did maybe I didn't. There's lots of things to do in Toontown!"

Nebula chuckled. "I asked why you came to Toontown and you specifically said you remembered we were here and figured you'd visit."

"One of many things to do in Toontown is visit people you know!"

"Then why the 'maybe yes, maybe no'?"

"Because if ya were busy then I might not have dropped by." Horrible reasoning Wally.

Nebula snorted. "Alright."

He lapses into silence for a bit before asking. "So... whaddaya wanna do now?"

"Have you been to this part of town before? I could show you around."

"Haven't in a while, nor for very long, so it'd be good to know about it if I come visit again!" That's a very long and complicated yes.

He chuckled. "So yes but you wouldn't mind seeing it all again?"

"You got it!"

After telling Hickory what they were doing, Nebula led Wally out and started showing him around.

It was after quite a bit of this that the skeleton eventually noticed Wally untangling some very familiar earbuds next to him. He paused. Then blinked. Were those . . . ? But he could just have the same type . . . "Where . . . did you get those?" he decided to ask.

"Your pocket. Noticed they were tangled!" Not even going to pretend he didn't steal them.

"I . . . Wally!"

"That's my name!" He's a little shit.

Oh that little . . . He reached to snatch his earbuds back.

They're only half tangled now and he doesn't seem surprised at all by Nebula grabbing them back. "Ya know ya coulda just asked if ya needed them?"

"You didn't ask before taking them," he retorted, putting them back in his pocket. Or at least, that's what it looked like. It was really back in his hammerspace.

"The literal definition of thief is taking things without asking kid." He deadpans. "But hey, if youse prefer messy ear thingamabobs then by all means leave 'em tangled!"

Nebula huffed. "I'll untangle them on my own later." They always ended up tangled, anyway, even if they were put in neat. Wally's efforts likely would have been in vain.

"Fair enough!" Does Wally LOOK like a man who knows about Earbuds' magical tangling property?

After a moment of silent walking, he said, "So, what, could you not resist stealing something for even just half a day?"

Shrug. "Force of habit." Pause. "Ya do know I was gonna put 'em back right?"

He paused. Then looked away. "Not sure." Sure, Wally said he often returned things, but really he only knew him for a day and a half. Who knew whether he was telling the truth?

"Fair enough! We haven't known each other super long but trust me: I'll put things back if I take 'em from ya."

"Suppose I'll have to see for myself." He looked back at him. ". . . How often do you do things like that, anyway?"

He scrunches up his face and thinks a bit. "Not often but it's also not almost never? So... sometimes I guess?"

Nebula sighed. "Alright, noted then." He'd have to keep an eye out for it. And . . . hope that he'd be true to his word with returning whatever he took.

Good luck trying to spot him Neb! "So.. Anywhere else ya wanna show me 'round town?"

"Sure!" he said, continuing the tour around town.

Though while they were walking, a ruckus nearby drew his attention.

Wally snapped around to face the noise, trying to figure out whats going on. There's a lot of yelling due to an overturned stand and someone running away holding... something. It's hard to tell.

"Stop! Stop thief!" The shop owner yells.

Oh, oh that very much wasn't good. He couldn't help a quick glance to his side but it was very quickly confirmed that Wally was right next to him so the worries about him being the cause were immediately assuaged.

The thief was running their way, though, so Nebula quickly whipped his hand forward, summoning three shards of bone and shooting them towards them. The intent wasn't to hurt them so much as make them skid to a stop, but . . . well, his quick movement made them go wildly off trajectory, embedding instead in a wall, a door, and a sign.

Nebula hissed and ran forward instead, hoping to intercept the thief.

The thief easily ducks the bone shards and keeps running, jumping over Wally (who tried to trip them) as they continue their escape.

Wally elbows Nebula. "Come on! If ya wanna catch 'em yer gonna have to use those legs!" And he starts running after the thief, ducking and weaving through the crowd, bumping into one person as he does. He's got a knife? When did he grab a knife? Who let this gremlin have a knife? Oh well. He's got a weapon if he needs it.

Nebula didn't even notice the knife, too focused on catching this person. Once more he attempted to make them stop, this time by casting prestidigitation to make the illusion of small police car driving towards them from in front of them. So what if it was only palm-sized? They were toons! Size meant nothing!

The thief keeps running, oblivious to the tiny police car that gets lost in the crowd. Several other people notice it and get very confused, jumping out of its way. At least traversing the street is a little easier?

Wally is just managing to keep up without losing sight, but he can't seem to gain on the thief. "Hey kid! Try and see if there's somewhere the thief is heading to yeah? We can try and block 'em off!"

Stars can he not catch a break? At least the path was clearer now. "I think they're just running away instead of heading to!" he called out, but still, he tried to see if there was any specific place the thief was heading to.

"Over there!" he said, pointing to some crates that would allow them to get to the rooftops. But how would they be able to cut them off?

". . . Wally, do you trust me?"

"They're heading to the rooftops then? It'll be hard to catch them then." For Nebula at least.

"Yeah? Whatcha thinking?"

Nebula didn't vocally reply. But he did pick Wally up and throw him towards the thief and their path. He'd intended on him landing in front of the thief to chase them off elsewhere, but instead, it ended up being on the thief themself.

He didn't expect to be thrown but you know what? Why not? He lets out a shout as he's thrown and the thief turns their head to look just before they get slammed into by one of the odder projectiles to throw.

Wally and the thief end up sprawled on the ground, one on top of the other. Both quite disoriented, one from taking a blow and getting knocked to the ground, and the other from being thrown.

At least Nebula can catch up now...?

Nebula winced. Ah, he hoped Wally was okay . . . But hey, it worked better than his original plan at least?

He ran up to the two on the ground, snatching up whatever the thief had stolen and shaking it at them. "What was that?"

Wally lets out a small groan and rubs the side of his head, fixing his hat. "Warn me next time." He's fine.

The thief however is not, and their face is smushed into the ground so it's hard to understand them. It's just all muffled.

The shaking of the snowglobe deposits a few snowflakes on top of Nebula and the surrounding area, and, there's some on the thief. Presumably from them running away holding the thing.

"Sorry, there wasn't any time."

Well, they'd successfully stopped the thief. "Don't do that again," he said sternly. He'd be letting them off this time.

He turned back to Wally, starting to walk back where they'd come from. "I'm going to go return this."

The thief gives a thumbs up from on the ground to this person crazy enough to throw someone at them. Then they pat Wally like hey can you get off???

"Ah @$%*- sorry." He gets off the thief and help them up a bit bc hey if they're being let off he can be nice to them. The thief gives them both a mildly spooked look and scurries off up to the roofs.

Wally looks up at Nebula. "Do ya even know where it came from?"

"I assume from the person who yelled stop thief. If not, I'll ask around and see if anyone knows." He watched the thief go, then continued walking back.

He snorted. "A thief catching a thief."

"Fair enough."

Wally pats some dust off himself "What? People hire thieves to stop thieves all the time! We know how each other think. Also, they weren't very bright, stealing in broad daylight." And he starts trotting after Nebula.

"Mm, yeah. As I recall, I found you about to steal in broad daylight as well. And straight in front of me when you knew I was there."

"I! Knew what I was doing. They wouldn'ta noticed it happening. And tha first time ya snuck up on me." He doesn't have a defense for the second time he just wanted to see if he could get away with it. "'Sides, yer tall, how often do ya look down?"

"Enough to see you trying to trying to snatch something, apparently." He's not going to let him live that down.

"Ah but youse don't know how many I got away with without'cha seein'!" Well, he's not wrong, but also no. He only tried the once and he had the horrible luck for it to happen at the exact same time Nebula looked down.

"Fair enough, but that'd be a lot of stealing in one day."

He makes a so-so gesture. "Ehhh... depends on the thief? That was only two tries ya saw. A third or fourth ain't that much!" They really do be just casually talking about thievery in broad daylight walking around public spaces.

They really do. "Suppose you did have a third that I didn't see, what with the earbuds. But I feel pickpocketing is more subtle."

"And if I had pocketed them instead o' fiddling and detangling the things ya wouldn't have known until ya went lookin' for 'em. Or if ya didn't look down before I put 'em back."

"So yes, that one I'll give you, but again, pickpocketing is subtler than shoplifting."

"Yeeeah ya need to be a little more careful so the person doesn't feel ya in their pocket. But'cha still need to be smart in shopliftin'! Figure out where the shopkeeper or employees can't see ya and the like."

"Exactly. And you didn't account for everyone in the crowd." Namely, himself.

He pokes Nebula. "Youse weren't gonna turn me in if ya did see me doin' it. There weren't anyone else around payin' attention."

"I would've taken it from you, though. And I still caught you off guard. What if it had been someone else?"

"I coulda said I was just lookin' at it? Plausible deniability kid." No he's just a mild idiot. "Worst comes to worst I buy somethin' and get scolded about manners."

"Doesn't change the fact that you wouldn't have succeeded, though."

"So? I still got to try." He wouldn't have been bothered by not succeeding. "And it's not like I was stealin' much of worth."

"Yes, but the point of this conversation is that you were saying the thief wasn't smart for stealing in broad daylight when you were attempting to do the same just hours before. You mentioned nothing about their tactics being the problem, just the broad daylight."

"Fair enough! I forgot most people don't have tha context fer that subtly. But overturnin' stalls and stuff tryna get away? That's just bound to attract attention and tha's Exactly what a thief doesn't want."

"That would make sense, yes." He paused. ". . . Unless it was a distraction for someone else."

"Oh yeah probably. Unless they really are that incompetent."

Well. Now he was worried. He started walking back to the stall faster.

Wally follows faster, it looks like people stopped to help put the stall back into rights and pick up the spilled items

Nebula handed the snowglobe back to the shop owner. "Here you go." He frowned. ". . . Have any more trouble?"

They shake their head. "Thank you but no. At least not as far as I can tell. We're still picking up the items so we don't know if anything else is missing."

"Alright. Keep an eye out. It's possible that thief was just causing a scene."

Their brow furrows with worry. "Is it? We will keep an eye out and tell our fellow shopkeeps then. Thank you again for returning our item." Nebula could have easily kept it and had the shopkeep none the wiser.

"Of course. Do you need any help cleaning up?"

They shake their head. "No, we have had many hands volunteer to help clean up since the thief overturned our stand. Thank you for the offer though."

"Alright. I hope the rest of your day goes well, then, despite what just happened." It was good, anyway. He wasn't sure how well he could trust Wally to not pocket anything while helping.

They nod. "Hopefully it will. We hope your day goes well too."

Yeah not trusting Wally is a good move.

"Thank you!" he waved, then started back in the direction they were going before all this happened.

They wave back giving a call of "safe travels!" Before returning to cleaning.

Wally, who was content to be quiet and just watch the exchange also waves and, after a moment, runs after Nebula. "Well, if there was something else stolen or it was a distraction, they did a good job of it. It was probably just an inexperienced newbie though. How ya doin' after stoppin' a robbery kid?"

"Honestly? Still running on adrenaline," Nebula said. He hadn't really noticed until now with all the activity around them, but he was quietly rattling. He shook his arms out. "Wuff. That was exciting. How about you?"

"Yeah that's pretty normal! Just relax and it'll stop pumping so much. Though it might take a bit, yer bones are literally rattlin' from it!" He lets out a little chuckle as he takes off his hat and shakes some unseen dust off it. "Other than bein' thrown I'm not any worse for wear."

He put the knife away at some point but it's uncertain when.

"Oh hush!" Nebula said. "It's only making noise because I'm a skeleton. It'd be just like anyone else shaking after something big happened."

"Glad you're alright, though."

"Well we can always get something cold to chill out with." Wally says as he nudges Nebula with an elbow. He only makes horrible puns apparently.

"Well it's not like I did much other than run after them before ya threw me! And I ain't fragile so it's not like landin' on someone is gonna do much ta me."

Nebula snorted. "Oh, stars. But I definitely wouldn't mind something like that to help cool down after such an exhilarating experience."

He shrugged. "It's still good to know!"

Wally laughs at that. "Maybe some ice cream then?"

"Fair enough!"

"Ice cream sounds excellent." And with that, they started walking down towards the nearest ice cream shop.

And they get ice cream and it's really nice and they have a fun day going through the rest of town before they head back to the flower shop and bid each other farewell. Ready to meet up again another day.

Chapter Text

Time to take a trip to Happyesplayes! It's got some things that Toontown does not. Plus, hey, it's fun to go there and visit sometimes.

It still takes a bit of time to get there, though, so Nebula and Wally have stopped partway there for lunch.

They packed sandwiches for lunch! And they've sat down in a rather lovely clearing a bit aways from the woods. It's a nice day, a little bit cloudy but still nice and sunny, with a gentle breeze.

And there is no birdsong whatsoever. Nor chittering from squirrels. There's rustling from the animals moving around, but they do not speak.

That was . . . very odd to Nebula. Especially considering how much he enjoyed hearing the sound of the animals, and how often animal sounds tended to exist in a place such as this in the first place. It was disconcerting, and ominous.

Nebula looked around a little. ". . . I don't think we should stay here long."

"What? Just 'cause it's a bit quiet? It's probably fine." He's finished his sandwich quite quickly, and now he's looking around a bit. And... yep! To him it looks like a totally normal clearing other than the lack of animal calls, which honestly? They're still there, maybe they just don't squawk a lot in this area. He doesn't think it's weird.

"Anyways, outta curiosity, what's the use of an arcane focus? Like what does it do?"

"Too quiet . . ." he murmured.

The question caught him off guard, though, and he blinked a couple times before starting to clean up the area, speaking as he did. "Oh, it makes it so that I don't have to gather anything for any of the spells I cast. Much easier to always carry around one thing than to have to carry around and replenish multiple different things depending on any potential spell I might find myself needing to cast."

"Huh! Handy! Ya'd think more people'd use 'em for spellcasting then. What's the point in using materials for spellcasting at all if ya have the option to use one 'o them?" He has Nebula's arcane focus and is looking it over. Just casual theft from your buddies. As ya do.

"I-" He started to answer, then stopped, turning to pick something up and in the process noticing that Wally was currently holding his arcane focus. He stared for a moment, then rushed to looked at and grab where it would have been on his chest, where it very much was not any longer. WHEN did- "Wha- Hey! Wally! That's important!" He literally just explained-

He reached forward to take it from him.

And Wally reached to hand it back to him from where he was sitting. Because it's important so he's giving it back.

Neither of them, however, could account for the floor suddenly giving way beneath them in two halves, like a trap door.

Wally lets out a scream as he falls, the arcane focus falling after him down a rocky slide, as Nebula also gets sent down his own slide right into the darkness.

Nebula let out a startled shriek as he was suddenly sent plunging down into nothing. Or at least, what seemed like nothing until he smacked straight into a wall at the bottom of the slide.

"Uggghhhhh," he groaned, slowly picking himself up with a head to his hand. "Where am I . . . ?"

[25/28]

Wally manages to land on his feet by the end of the slide, though he is rather disoriented at the end. That's just what happens when you suddenly go plunging down a slide out of nowhere. At least he still has his hat on.

He hears Nebula speaking through the stone wall next to him and scurries over to it. "Kid? Is that youse? Are ya alright?"

Oh thank the stars he wasn't alone here. He placed his hand against the wall. "Wally? I'm, I'm fine, kind of got slammed into a wall but otherwise fine. Are you alright?"

Stars, it was dark in here. He spoke a quiet word as he went to touch his rose - and felt his fingers brush up against only clothing. He froze. "Oh- Oh this isn't good, you- you still have my arcane focus, right?"

"Yeah that tends to happen when you suddenly go down slides. I'm fine."

"Shit-" He looks around a bit before picking it up. "Yeah I do, I got it right here. I don't think I can pass it to ya though."

Yeah there's kind of a big stone wall in the way due to them each being in a separate cavern. It's decently dark.

"Stars. Okay, okay, we can figure this out. Maybe we could try climbing back up the slides?"

Deprived of his go-to light source, Nebula instead cast prestidigitation to make a shower of sparks, just to get an idea of what he was dealing with before the sparks dimmed.

Wally investigates the slide in his room before shaking his head and going back to the wall to say; "Naw, they're too steep, and the trapdoor probably closed. Unless ya got something ta blast it open we're gonna have to look for a different exit."

Nebula is in A fairly basic empty cave. There's the slide where he came from, but it's quickly too steep to climb up. There's also an opening to a dark hallway, but it turns a corner before much can be seen. Small animal bones litter the floor, and there's some worn spots, like people have been down here before.

There's also a couple claw marks by the slide.

"I can't get a good angle for firebolt."

Well, that was a sight. Probably ominous, too. ". . . I think there's a tunnel over here. I'm going to see if I'll be able to get to you with it. Alright?"

"What'cha using fire bolt for??" You must explain to the idiot.

"Alright, I'll see if there's one on my end and if we can meet up yeah?"

"You asked if I had something to blast the trapdoor open," he responded.

"Alright, I just plan to scope it out a little. I'll be back soon." He didn't want to get lost down here.

He carefully walked over to where he remembered the tunnel to be and made that shower of sparks again.

"Well that doesn't help if you can't climb it."

"Alright, stay safe kid!" Wally turns to investigate his room more, see if there's a way out other than the slide.

There is in fact a hallway there! And there is still small animal bones littered around. It is taller than the room he was in though. It seems to go on for a short while, sloping up a little bit.

He turned back to mention this to Wally, then to say he was going to explore it more, go farther down since there didn't seem to be any turns. He was going to be careful with it, though. Really, it was almost natural to him.

As he went down he periodically created more showers of sparks.

Wally says he's investigating more too, so hopefully they'll meet up. And then they're both gone down their respective paths.

The hallway twists and turns a decent amount, occasionally there's some wooden supports or more bones, and eventually nebula comes to a fork in it after a couple twists.

Well, he wasn't about to go down a fork without saying where he was going, especially since he might potentially get lost, so he headed back to tell Wally of this and figure out which way to go. Assuming Wally had the same sense to come checking back in too, anyway.

He started taking out some rope from his hammerspace. He'd need it to remember which way he turned.

Nope! He doesn't seem to. He might not have realized there might be forks in one path while there isn't in others, or he might have gotten stuck in a trap or something like an idiot.

Rope? What's he going to tie it to? And what happens when he goes past the fifty feet the rope allows? Does he just leave it behind?

How long should he wait here? The longer it went on the more concerned he got. He was willing to wait for a few hours for him, though. Every now and again he called his name to see if he'd get a response.

If not a rock formation, then he'd have to leave it on the ground. Though there really was no solution to when it ran out.

After about an hour of waiting, there's... Humming. Coming from down the tunnel on Nebula's side. A jaunty little tune that Wally occasionally hums while bored or travelling without the need to be quiet. It echoes through the tunnels, but that means there's a connection somewhere.

There's no rock formation, the walls are rather smooth, but maybe he could tie it to one of the support beams?

Nebula perked up and stood. "Wally?" he called once more, loud, starting to head in that direction. If he could hear Wally, then Wally could hear him, too, right?

The humming continues to echo through the tunnels. Seems the sound carries this way, but not the other way... Or he's deafened.

He called more, but he wasn't going to wait for a response. Once he came back to that fork, he tied the rope around one of the supports and started heading down the tunnel it was coming from.

The humming seems to get louder as Nebula goes down the left path and- oh. That is a skull. A human skull. With an arrow through one of the sockets and the rest of the bones scattered around, some of them broken open with the marrow sucked out.

Nebula froze. Oh. Oh that wasn't good. That was not good at all.

Okay, okay, uh . . . Stars, this wasn't good!

"Wally . . . ?" he called out more hesitantly, not moving forward and looking around for anything dangerous.

There looks to be holes in the wall not far ahead... what could those be?

And the humming seems to have faded out at some point, replaced by indistinct muttering. Still Wally's voice but he hasn't heard Nebula yet. Or he's ignoring him but that seems pretty rude.

"Wally please answer me!" he called, eyeing those holes worriedly. Especially considering the arrow in that skull.

Alright. If they were what he thought they were, were they set off by movement or pressure?

He took a step back, then cast firebolt down the tunnel. Not only should that hopefully see if it'd be set off by motion, but it should also give him some light to see 120 feet in front of him for a couple seconds.

It doesn't trigger any arrows, and there seems to be more bones littered along the hallway, a large amount having been crushed with the marrow inside eaten. As well as more wooden support beams and a few old weapons scattered, presumably left from previous trapped people. There's an arrow stabbed into one of the support beams.

Finally. FINALLY. Wally responds, his "Eh?" Of confusion echoing down the tunnel.

Oh thank the stars he was responding. "Be careful!" Nebula called. "There are traps down here!"

Yeah that very much was not good. Both the arrows, and . . . well, he presumed whatever made those claw marks was likely eating anyone who'd gotten caught in this thing. How did it get to them, though, without setting off the trap itself? There must be a way . . .

Maybe this was a pressure thing, though.

He looked around to see if there were any relatively heavy stones that he could throw.

"Yeah, what else do ya expect kid? This place was made by somebody ." There's something off about his voice. The accent a little heavier than it normally is, but that's probably just a trick of the echo or something.

There weren't any in reaching distance, but there were some rocks further down the hall that don't indent the floor, like previous people had thrown them to figure out the puzzle.

There's a few gaps where somebody ran out of stones and had to pick the ones up where they were, and there isn't any near the front of the trap, but there's enough that with some cleverness and maybe a stick, one can navigate the trap.

"I don't know!"

Just because it was made by somebody didn't mean there had to be traps, and they were already trapped anyway so what would be the point?

Oh well, at least he knew.

Nebula looked around at everything in front of him. "Okay, there's a trap in front of me right now. I can see some safe spaces, but not across the whole way, so I'm gonna go back a little and see if there's anything I can find to toss across it. I'll be right back. Be careful!"

Murder is the point, duh.

"Aint I careful?" Wally's voice echoes. And yeah, he's probably got more experience with traps than Nebula. But also Nebula's probably seen him jump from Unwilted Wonder's roof.

There's some rocks back at the fork, possibly someone's attempt to keep track that got scattered previously. They seem a decent enough weight to check the empty spaces with, assuming Nebula doesn't miss too many times on the far ones.

Coming back to the arrow trap however, leads to the realization that there should be a lot more scattered arrows from pierced corpses than there is. There's only the one in the skull, yet there's a good couple bodies worth at least here.

Something cleans up the trap.

Nebula picked up the rocks and put all but one in his hammerspace, planning on taking them out one by one as he got closer to each empty space. He didn't trust himself to accurately throw that far, after all.

The realization hit him straight in the chest. Okay. Okay, yes, once again, not good.

". . . Hey, Wally? On second thought, could you come over here instead? It's probably best for as few of us to have to cross traps as possible and you're better at it than I am, anyway."

A solid plan.

"I can't." Came his reply. "I got stuck in a pit trap." Huh. You'd think he'd have dodged it or been able to climb out of it, considering what Nebula's seen him climb. "Youse would have ta cross yer trap anyways wouldn't ya?"

Nebula froze. ". . . Wally, I just said- Look, be careful okay! Something's been eating things that get caught!" Oh he was worried. He was very worried.

"Not if we're just trying to meet up." He paused. "Unless you found a way out over there?"

Stars, he was going to have to cross this thing anyway to try and help Wally out before whatever was in here got to him first, wasn't he?

Hm. He was going to start moving across, throwing the rocks as he did, but on second thought, it was likely that hitting an unsafe space would trigger the arrows across the entirety of the trap, so he really should just throw them from the edge.

He used the spark showers to help him see enough to throw towards the closer spaces, and firebolt to help him see for the farther ones.

"Well it can't eat me can it? Ah'll see it coming" he'd also be cornered if whatever it is came for him.

"Well ya have to get across ta meet up if ah'm stuck in a trap ain't ya?"

His methods are very effective and he manages to find the safe spaces with a few throws each time. Though he does get to watch what happens when he actually triggers the trap. Arrows fly across the hall at high speed and disappear into the holes on the other side so they aren't wasted. And the lowered places when descended, have the rocks disappear and come back up when the trap stops. It's unknown where the rocks go.

"Wally I don't trust that. You're stuck. Even if you can see it coming that doesn't mean you can get away. And I didn't know you were stuck before."

Alright, good to know. And he used that knowledge to get around a quarter of the way across. Luckily, he did not have to cross it fully. He cast firebolt one more time to give him light to see by, then misty stepped the rest of the way across.

Okay. He was across. Thank the stars. Now he could work on finding Wally.

. . . He didn't have his rope anymore.

Stars. This was bad.

"Ah'll be fiiiine. Ya got rope don'tcha? If we meet up youse can help me outta the hole." There's a slight edge of... something. To his voice. Not fear or worry, but something else to the nonchalance.

The hallway continues on in the darkness, a door on one side of it not far from where Nebula is standing on the other side of the arrow trap.

. . . Stars.

Should he go back for it? ". . . I forgot mine further back, actually. Do you have any? I can go back for it." He didn't want to, but he could.

The door was new. He hesitated, then knocked against it. He had no idea what was behind this thing and he was already quite spooked.

Nope, don't have any!" Just a little too cheerful. And why would Wally not have rope?

Nothing knocks back, but the door does creak open a little bit at the knock, due to being unlocked. Through it is a room, but no other way forward immediately visible through the crack of the door.

Nebula froze. That . . . That wasn't right. Wally always had rope. And he could scale almost anything, so unless the walls were greased he'd easily be able to get out of a pit trap.

Something was wrong. Something was very, very wrong.

Either Wally was lying - and how would he benefit from lying in this situation? Was he under threat? - or something had him under their mental control, either through charming or dominate person or something else.

Several things were obvious. 1) Wally was in danger. 2) Going forward would likely put himself in even more danger than he already was. 3) . . . He couldn't just leave Wally like that.

He just. He'd have to move forward extremely carefully.

Stars, who knew what was behind this door? And he hated that he had to use flashes of light to even see in the first place, because that meant he couldn't in any way be stealthy.

Well, he could at least try to see which direction the voice was coming from. He didn't want to go through this door if he didn't have to.

"What do you mean you don't have rope?" he called, listening carefully for a response.

There looks to be a little bit of furniture within view from the crack in the door. But the voice seems to be coming from further down the way he was going before he saw the door.

"What, ya deaf or something? Ah mean ah don't have any rope!" Wally's voice calls back, unaware of Nebula's mental turmoil.

Well. Now that he knew where the voice was coming from, the door did look a little more appealing. Maybe there was something that would help in there, like more rope.

Okay, fine. He was going to stand off to the side, pressed against the wall, and slowly open it with one hand.

No traps go off from the door, though it does knock a chair that was a little too close further in, like at one point it was used to hold the door closed. Which, with how easily the door opened, could have very well been the case.

The room is sparsely furnished, with some chairs, a table, and a card game long abandoned. There's some shelves on one wall, one of which has tilted down unto the others. And a threadbare rug, holes chewn in it in more than a few places.

Everything is covered in dust.

Huh. Someone used to live here.

He stepped in carefully, looking around the place a little more.

Was it someone who made this place, or someone who'd been trapped? Or both, perhaps? Either way, it hadn't been used in a long time.

He gave the place a once over, looking for anything, firstly, dangerous, and secondly, useful.

The chairs and table seem sturdy enough, just old.

There doesn't seem to be anything useful, nor anything dangerous. It's just a room. A really really dusty room. The table and chairs with the card game are a little less dusty.

Ah, there wasn't a whole lot of use to looking in here, then. At least it didn't seem dangerous, though.

Someone had been in here some time ago, though, if the cards and furniture around it were less dusty.

But he needed to make sure Wally was okay, and there was nothing in here that could help with that, so he started heading back down the tunnel. Carefully.

They're still pretty dusty. Even if less so.

There doesn't seem to be much odd until there's. Literally a random ass rug in the middle of the hallway. Just big enough to touch the edges of the hall. Why is there a rug here. It's got tassels on the corners but is still threadbare.

Oh he was very suspicious of that. Especially since he just fell down a trap door.

He carefully crouched down by it and attempted to lift up a corner.

It lifts up easily and there seems to be just stone from the little bit visible under the lifted up corner.

He lifted up more of it. If it was a trapdoor then the edges would still have to be stone anyway to give the rug something to actually rest on.

The rug is heavy and unpleasant to lift due to being so old. It was a wool rug, clearly, because it feels like it's dirty and dusty and fragmenty in its age. A truely unpleasant thing to touch, none the less lift any more than a tiny amount. It fills the air with a musty smell and a couple moths. Note: rugs are just heavy, that is not because it is old.

Nebula barely manages to lift any more before it slips from his grasp as he sneezes from the dust.

Icky as it was, he was more focused on trying to make sure this wasn't a trap.

He blinked several times after the sneeze. Okay, one more attempt. He'd try rolling it back this time.

You know how rugs hate existing in any way other than flat? Well it's even more so with old rugs. Even more dust and must and dirt poofs up from the rug and Nebula manages to hold it up a few inches more than previously as the rug fights his grasp trying to flop back down and see…

More stone.

It's definitely not a crack or broken hole under the carpet, there would be signs of it. Or at least, if there is, it's not enough to swallow anyone whole. So whatever might be under it is probably in the middle of the rug and not effect the edges. Of course, one could always try taking their chances and walking through the middle of the rug. But that might not be the smartest option.

Oh he was absolutely not going to be walking through the middle of the rug. That just screamed danger.

Alright, one more test. He reached as far as he could under the rug and touched the stone to check that it wasn't an illusion.

It is not an illusion! However the shifting required to touch the exposed stone means that midway touching the stone the rug slips from his grasp and slaps down on Nebula's arm and he gets to experience the extremely unpleasant experience of arm trapped between old rug and very cold stone.

It doesn't do any damage it's just the absolute worst feeling.

Nebula shuddered as he pulled his arm back. It was worth it to check, though.

Alright. He had to be extremely careful. For one, he was not standing. Dirty old carpet or not, he was going to cross this rug by crawling, slowly, across the edge against the wall. That way if he did come across a hole, he'd know it was there before actually falling into it.

It feels horrible and somehow scrapey to remove his arm, but it's free now. He'll probably want to wash that jacket later. 

It's old and horrible and weirdly dusty/slidey to crawl across and would really do better to just walk across or heck, even jump it, but Nebula somehow, SOMEHOW, manages to cross the carpet, crawling, without getting any more rug dust on him, nor slipping, nor disturbing moths, nor any of the other many hazards of old rugs. 

He makes it to the other side! 

Wally's voice calls "Ya still there?"

Okay, okay he was good. 

He stood up and brushed himself off. "Yeah, just navigating another potential trap." 

Farther down the tunnel he goes, sticking to the edge to try to be at least a little stealthy even if it probably hardly makes a difference.

"What trap?" 

The tunnel winds along, finally stopping its slight incline and going flat. So it's slightly easier to walk. There's more wooden beams and- hey! There's writing on one of them! Around eye level for someone of average height there's quite a few lines of it.

"Just a trap," he replied, a little quieter. 

His attention was very much drawn to the message, though, and he walked over to look at it.

It looks to be in common, a couple different handwritings, all three horribly horribly messy, so it's difficult to read. Seems like... a conversation? Why were they writing it down?

Oh lore? Listen he's an expy of character from a video game he has to read the environmental lore.

He spent a moment at the handwriting, attempting to decipher it.

It takes a bit because this is like. Legit handwriting. All fancy and incomprehensible and everything, not to mention it seemed to be written in a hurry.

Should we split up?

no that'd get us lost faster

Well staying together isn't helping us get out faster either

We can't get out yet we have to find the thing

And if we find the thing separately we're good as dead

I still say we should cut and run

Come on, I can take it on!

Have you seen that thing?

We are stronger together, we will stick togeth

The last unfinished word trails off like the person writing suddenly spun around, causing the pen to drag off and down before they dropped it.

There is no pen here now.

Hm, very concerning yes. He wondered what "thing" they were looking for, and . . . well, he certainly didn't want to run into whatever was after them.

He assumed they were writing because they wanted to be quiet.

Ah! He needed to go help Wally! He might be walking straight into a trap, but he couldn't exactly leave him there, either . . .

After a couple twists and turns the darkness of the tunnel actually seems to be getting.... brighter? just a little bit. Like there's a light source up ahead, but it's far enough to be very faint around the twists and turns.

More pressing though, is another fork in the path. One path continues straight, the other seems to go back, sloping downwards a tiny bit, and is a lot rougher than the rest of the paths have been. But also larger and has more crevices of shadow.

"Oh shit that's a big rat." Wally's voice remarks. Sounding a little surprised and concerned.

Huh. He wondered what was up with that other path . . .

He jumped at Wally's voice, though, and rushed forward, protective instincts causing him to momentarily forget that hey, this might be a trap.

Not a trap, but there is, in fact, a door! A stone door.

There's nine squares on the door, and torches on either side of it so the hallway and door are actually visible without magic!

Oh thank the stars he didn't need to keep using magic to see anymore.

Hmmmm, there was no handle . . . a puzzle? He touched the square on the middle far left.

It indents. And the stone just above it juts out a little bit.

Oh? He pressed that one, too.

It doesn't indent. It stays where it is, unmoving.

Huh. 

He pressed the one next to the first he pressed. The very middle.

After the centre square is pushed in, The middle right juts out.

Hmmmm . . . He tried the upper right corner this time. The only one adjacent to that that hadn't popped forward was the middle top.

Something about this felt . . . well, pleasant wasn't the word, but . . . right. The traps? No, he could very much do without those. But puzzles belonged in underground tunnels.

The upper right corner indents and the middle bottom juts out

Nebula blinked.

Hmmmmm hm hm hm. He pressed the lower left. Something must happen to either the lower right or the top middle. They were the only ones that hadn't changed yet.

The lower left indents, and then the rest of the untouched squares follow suit, before they reset to their original positions and the stone door slowly raises with an awful scraping sound. 

Congratulations Nebula, you won.

Oh. Huh.

To be entirely fair, he'd expected to have to do that puzzle several times over before getting it right. Beginner's luck . . . ?

Well, it was open, and Wally was in trouble no matter what the reason behind the difference in his voice, so onwards he went.

Through the door is a dimly lit hallway, every other sconce lit with flame. It seems to twist and turn a bit up ahead. The door slides down after Nebula crosses through it.

Nebula froze. Ah.

Okay, okay, don't panic, just . . . keep moving forward. Wally needed him.

Actually, he hadn't heard him in a bit. "Wally?" he called out.

Well, the puzzle also seems to be on this side of the door at least? You just have to do it again if you want back out.

Wally's voice calls back

"Yeah? What is it? Ah'm kinda busy with a rat here!"

"Yeah, just making sure it hasn't killed you yet." He'd have expected to have heard sounds from the rat, though, or exclamations from Wally, if it really was big enough to worry about.

Agh, all of this had trouble written all over it.

He continued forward, but his hands were raised, ready to use magic at any sign of trouble.

Finally, the hallway rounds the bend to a rather large opening, a few bones littered outside it. And through the opening? A massive room. Interspersedly lit with torches on the walls, but still rather dim overall due to the sheer size of the room, with shadowy pockets in it.

Hm. This had bad idea written all over it. 

Luckily he no longer had to use magic to see, so he was going to try to sneak in, keep to the shadows, and keep an eye out for anything dangerous. 

He didn't see any giant rats.

It's hard to see what's in the room due to all the shadows, there's some furniture in the shadows and shards of bone. And, once Nebula is in, he can see Wally.

Not in a pit trap or anything. But instead pinned up against a wall by a blade, the end of which is embedded in the wall.

Chapter Text

Nebula sucked in a breath. He knew something was off about that story. Wally could get out of a pit trap. This seemed a mite more dangerous.

But if he was being magically controlled, why would he be pinned? And if he wasn't, why would he lie?

Wally didn't seem . . . in immediate danger, aside from being pinned, so he waited quietly in the shadows. Maybe the next time he spoke would shed some light on the situation, now that he was here to see it.

He seems to be struggling at the pin. That is, until he spots Nebula. His eyes widen and he shakes his head at Nebula after glancing at the shadows next to himself. No no don't come over here. He drops his gaze and goes back to struggling pretty quickly, trying to hide he saw Nebula.

"What? What're ya looking at?" Wally's voice hisses from the shadows next to him. An annoyed tone from... whatever it is. Wally merely glares at it.

He locked eyes with Wally, then glanced where he'd looked. Okay, so that's where the danger was.

He startled slightly when he heard Wally's voice coming from . . . not quite Wally, but more the shadows next to him. Stars, had it not even been Wally who'd been speaking with him in the first place?

But it caught that Wally'd been looking at him, and he did not want to be spotted, so he quickly misty stepped to the shadowy area opposite Wally, so he no longer was where he'd been looking.

The shadowy... arm? thats holding the blade comes from where Wally looked. It's dark... what is that... a grey? whatever it is it blends in with the shadows well.

There's some movement sounds of something big shifting around to look around the cavern. It definitely heard him cast misty step. In the shadows as something... black. edges the light briefly.

"Huh. I thought there woulda been more of a resemblance between youse and yer kid." Pardon???

Wally is giving... Whatever it is a very confused look.

What??? Okay, no, not important right now. He can figure out how whatever this is came to that conclusion later. Right now he had to figure out where this thing was, what it was, and how to get himself and Wally out of here and alive.

Well, it saw him, so no use hiding anymore. He tried to cast Light once more, hand going to his arcane focus- which still wasn't there, stars!

His eyes flickered towards Wally before searching back through the shadows. He had better still have his rose . . .

Alright, fine. He'd cast firebolt towards where that black thing had edged- no, wait, there! He spotted some shifting movement and cast the spell directly at it. Hopefully it'd hit it, but if it didn't he at least be able to see it better.

It tsks. "Aww, ya not even gonna introduce yerself? How rude of ya kid."

And for a moment Nebula's eye catches a too-wide toony grin glinting in the torchlight with far too many teeth and a pair of half-lidded pie-cut eyes before the creature moves and they've disappeared into the darkness.

Wally seems to be more busy with the sword that is quite near his throat unfortunately and does not have the chance to get the rose from wherever he put it.

The thing let out a small noise at the bit of fire, which lights up it's dark grey side and long body. It's a toon. If you could call such a monstrosity a toon. With a grinning beak and crazed eyes as well as at least one set of gloved hands poised on the ground mid-movement. It looms over Nebula and laughs a laugh he'd never heard from Wally's voice.

"Oh yer cute. Is that really the best youse can do?"

[22/28]

Nebula flinched, both at what was said and especially that laugh.

No, no he couldn't let it get to him. He reached his hand towards where the voice was coming from, a magical, ghostly hand appearing near the creature and attempting to grab at it.

"Oh yer boring. Not even gonna snipe back? Really, ah'm so kind as ta let you have some jabs in and ya ain't speakin' a single word? Amateur."

It moves out of the way easily, not even trying to be stealthy as it steps back to avoid the grasping.

"Do ya got stage fright? Cat got yer tongue? Come on, it's only me, youse, and a rat in here. And food is so dreadfully boring when it refuses to speak." Wow! Good to know it fully intends on eating Nebula!

The sword is still stabbed up against Wally. What on earth is holding it there?

Yep yup no no thank this was really really really not good!!!

Okay it knew where he was, he needed to get Wally free. He misty stepped once more to get to as close to Wally as possible, and darted the rest of the way there.

He wasn't going to humor this creature.

It surged forwards and tired to grab him just before he misty stepped, sending part of its body into the light and therefore full view. It looks around a little bit before realizing where Nebula would have gone and seeing Nebula in the torchlight.

It slowly walks up behind him, it's horrible face coming into full view as it towers over Nebula, the sword pressing a little closer to Wally as it does so.

Wally looks vaguely startled to see Nebula suddenly so close. Wide-eyed in surprise. He looks a bit dusty and disheveled but more or less unharmed. His scarf is also lower on his face than it normally would be, oddly enough. Maybe just got knocked and he hadn't time to fix it.

Actually the wide-eyed surprise might actually be fear due to the creature looming up behind Nebula.

The creature huffs and then in an all too cheery tone of Wally's voice says, "Well, if ya ain't gonna use it, I might as well make this conversation one sided for good reason!"

And there's a ripping, tearing, feeling at Nebula's throat, like something's being torn out despite him not having any flesh to do so with, and despite the creature not even touching him. Then the feeling is gone just as quick as it arrived and leaving behind a distinct emptiness where something was.

He hardly even noticed it coming up behind him, focused instead on Wally and, specifically, trying to get that sword out of the wall. But stars was it wedged in there tightly, and he had no muscle strength. Literally.

Wally's voice behind him made him jump. He whipped around to face the creature, stunned and terrified at seeing it fully. His hand jumped to his neck at that horrible feeling, and he cried out. A cry that was cut off halfway through, sharply silencing itself and ending as a whispery breath.

Wh . . . What?

He tried to voice his confusion, but . . . nothing came out.

What?

The creature laughed, but it wasn't Wally's laugh. It was Nebula's . And it continues on in Nebula's voice. "The look on your face! I bet you never guessed a spell would be your last words."

Wally looks horrified up at the creature, and gives Nebula an apologetic look. Couldn't exactly warn him with no voice.

Nebula didn't even see Wally's look. He was looking up at the creature in abject horror as the realization dawned on him. He was frozen. He was well and truly frozen in his shock.

There's a soft whumph sound covered up by the sound of a sword being pulled from stone before it's hurtling towards Nebula's face, slamming into one side of it.

The creature's grin doesn't falter the whole time. It knows what it did, what it's doing.

[20/28, listen it may have been 2 hp but hey a paper cut hurts like heck, right?]

Nebula screamed, soundlessly, as a sharp crack resounded throughout the room. Small shards of bone fluttered to the ground followed by the skeleton himself, collapsed with his hands against his face.

He . . . he had to get away, he . . . he had to . . . he . . .

Wally gave a sympathetic wince at the sword strike, before pulling out a dagger and stabbing into the thing's tail before it can pull back, causing it to rake along the thing's retreating limb and have blood well up all along it.

The creature lets out a shriek of pain like a hurt cat and wrenches it's tail from his knife, blood splattering over him and the ground as it dances back, half of its body disappearing into the shadows.

After recoiling it hisses before speaking again, mocking him with Nebula's voice, "What a useless pest! You couldn't even warn your kid."

Wally winces, looking down, before letting out a little huff and glaring back up at it, Nebula is NOT his kid! [16/22]

Nebula took a shuddering breath and managed to stand up. If he let himself stay still like this he'd be free food for this thing, and he wasn't going to let that happen. Thank the stars Wally was unpinned. He couldn't say hi, and his mouth hurt too much to try, anyway, but he managed a tiny, pained smile.

Okay. Probably firebolt agai-

He couldn't speak.

He couldn't cast firebolt.

Okay, okay, that was alright, it was okay, Wally was right here, Wally had his arcane focus, he could get it back and he could cast spells with that.

He tapped Wally, tapped himself where he usually had his rose pinned, and held out his hand

Wally glanced back when tapped, looking at Nebula, before his eyes widen in realization. The knife disappears to... somewhere. And he pulls off his hat to grab the arcane focus before being slammed into a wall by a gloved hand. The arcane focus fluttering to the ground.

[14/22]

The gloved hand snatches up the flower before Nebula has the chance and the thing chuckles. "What, youse need this old thing just to do yer piddly little spells?"

Nebula gasped and rushed to make sure Wally was alright. But then he saw the creature out of the corner of his eye and lunged to grab the arcane focus before it could. An attempt that was ultimately futile. He stared up at it in horror.

Okay. It was fine. He wasn't completely defenseless.

Stars, he hoped he didn't fumble . . .

He stuck his hand into his jacket and pulled out an unnaturally long bone, one end sharpened to a point.

He threw the thing straight at it. It, uh. Wasn't a great throw.

The spear clatters to the ground and the creature laughs at him. "Aww, no idea how ta function without yer magic? Idiot."

The hand holding the arcane focus, the delicate flower, twitches and crushes it easily, letting the petals drop to the floor one by one. Eyes staring straight at Nebula as it does so.

[16/28]

Nebula has frozen once again.

No . . . No! He . . . NO!

It's too busy torturing Nebula to bother looking where it threw Wally, thinking him dealt with. Which allows him to sneak up and stab it in the side with a dagger. It shrieks and whips around to face him, and he slashes across it's face looking very annoyed at it. He would probably be speaking right now, but he can't.

The creature growls and points it's sword-tail at him, all six sets of hands supporting it as it glowers down at him. "Why you little-"

It is thoroughly distracted.

Thank the stars for Wally. Nebula bolted towards his spear. He was much closer to the thing now, so he stabbed the tip straight into it.

He manages to strike right by the middle leg joint, sinking in quite deep, and the creature just screams. It must be disorienting to hear yourself scream like that. And downright awful to hear your friend's voice scream like that. It whips around once again, coiling over itself to do so and growls at Nebula like a dog.

"Youse two can't just stay still and die peacefully can ya? No, youse gotta make it difficult!" Its bladed tail lashes wildly in the darkness, slamming into the stone wall and sticking, which makes it whip around again to growl at its tail and try to pull it out of the wall. Grabbing it with its hands and tugging.

Wally slashes it again from out of the darkness, raking the blade down its side and making it shriek. There's a fresh slash across his face that's bleeding, but he doesn't seem to care a ridiculous amount. [11/22]

Nebula didn't notice the wound right away, though he likely would after the fight. For now, though, there was still danger occupying the entirety of his attention.

The spear had fallen out of it when it turned to grab its tail. Nebula ran to pick it up and throw it at the creature.

It didn't sink in nearly as deep as last time, but it did puncture the being before falling out at least.

The creature hisses in pain at being stabbed, just as it finally pulls its tail out of the wall. It snaps its head around to glare at Nebula, wrenching the spear out itself, before twisting over itself to disappear into the shadows. It lashes out with one more attack, smacking Wally in the back of the head before it's tail follows it into the shadows.

[8/22]

Wally rubs the back of his head with one hand, glaring at where the creature went. The scarf finally fell down to around his shoulders rather than covering his mouth, so Nebula can see it absolutely going as he silently hurls insults at the creature, going from rubbing the back of his head to shaking his fist at it.

Wally's voice rings out from the darkness. "Youse two ain't worth this claptrap. Have yer stupid voices. They're terrible anyways. Ah'm going to find something easier to eat! And kid?" It looks to Nebula. "Yer absolutely shit at stabbing."

There's movement in the darkness as it leaves and there's a feeling like swallowing something really big, like it shouldn't be swallowed, as it restores the pair's voices. Unpleasant, but not the absolute worst.

Nebula simply glared back at the creature, unperturbed. He knew he wasn't great at his spear. He was a spellcaster. The spear was only a backup.

Maybe he'd need to practice more with it anyway, though.

Thank the stars it left.

Nebula made a noise as he felt his voice return, then coughed, then groaned. "Stars," he mumbled quietly.

He walked forward to pick up his spear and put it back in his hammerspace. Then he plodded over to the shimmering blue petals, resting on the ground, and collapsed down next to them.

He gathered them up in his hands, glancing over at Wally, exhausted, before looking down at the remains of his arcane focus again.

It really is something to see a representation of yourself torn apart on the ground.

There was no way he'd be able to fix this.

Wally's silent tirade cuts off at his voice returning, forcing him to cough a bit. Not a lot of sound. A voice is an awkward thing to get back. At least he's not swearing at the thing now.

He plods over to Nebula, quietly putting his other dagger away. There's a quiet hoarseness, and smallness, to his voice after such a big creature used it. "I don't think we should continue to happyyesplays"

That! Is an understatement.

"..."

"Youse okay?"

Nebula only gives a silent nod in agreement. No, he really would rather just go home now. If they could even find a way out.

As for his wellbeing . . . Well, he glanced back up at Wally and gave him a look. No. No he was not okay.

But rather than focus on that, he asked, ". . . Are you?"

"I just spent half an hour or so voiceless and got slammed into the wall but other than that? I've had worse. Yer the one who got stabbed and had yer focus wrecked."

He's really casual about all this isn't he?

"We should get youse some knives."

He was way too casual about this.

"Better focus on getting out of here first." It was almost a whisper.

Then, ". . . Odd question: I don't suppose you have any alcohol at hand?"

He nods and looks around "Which path did youse come in from?"

At the question he snorts and shakes his head. "After that experience? I wish."

Nebula pointed at where he'd come in, then snorted at Wally's response. "It'd be for temporary healing. Just enough to get us out of here without too much struggle. Without my arcane focus . . ." Well, he'd just explained to Wally what an arcane focus did before they fell in here.

He slowly stood up, carefully placing the petals into his hammerspace. He wasn't looking at Wally. ". . . Don't take anything important like that from me again."

"Ahh... Yeah that might be a good idea. I don't think there's any o' that down here though."

He nods. "Definitely not." He was already planning on never stealing that again. "Can't say I expected this ta happen from it though! Expect the unexpected I guess."

He lapses into silence as he looks around before speaking up again "Well, assumin' there wasn't any path out on yer side, I'd say the way out is probably over..." He looks around a bit then points. "There."

He didn't respond to Wally's comment, just walking forwards towards where he pointed.

Was he mad? A little bit, yeah. But he was mostly exhausted and in pain. His mouth and eye especially given where that new crack was, so he wasn't going to be talking much more than he already had.

He had no blood to bleed, but stars did it hurt.

His eyelights had faded out completely.

Wally scurries after him, digging in his pockets to see if he has anything to help. What even helps bones? He doesn't know. The best he's got is splinting it but that's not useful in this case. Usually his luck only gets him into situations like this, he doesn't really tend to prepare for anyone else.

The path is a slope upwards, a little more steep than the previous sloping nebula experienced. There's no more puzzles other than a ladder at the end of it. Far too small for that creature to use and old. Not well taken care of. That thing must be stuck down here.

Good. It deserves it.

Wally stops at the bottom of the ladder, looking up. "D'you want to go up first or d'ya want me to see if there's anything dangerous up there?"

Nebula looked up. He was in a little better shape than Wally, but . . . "Do you have any rope?" He was concerned about the ladder breaking. Neither of them weighed much, but the possibility was still there, and they'd each be able to pull each other up with the same amount of difficulty.

Not that that really had anything to do with who should go up first.

. . . It'd already been proven that Wally could fight better than Nebula currently, though.

"Of course! Who doesn't carry rope on them? Is that not a thing anymore? I don't know if there's anywhere to tie it up to at the moment though." Saying he doesn't have rope is literally one of the worst lies that creature could have come up with.

"One of us could go up first-" He brought his hand to his mouth with a wince, but tried to continue his thought anyway, though it was stilted. "-with one end. And then the other could use it as a harness. In case the ladder breaks."

"It's probably better fer me to go up first then. More experience with rope an' finding a good spot. Also, I have the rope." He's pulled it out of his hammerspace and yep. That sure is rope! Good sturdy kind.

He nodded and stepped up next to the ladder to hold it steady.

Wally slings the rope over his shoulder and scrambles up, easy as pie. The ladder creaks a bit, but it holds.

At the top he ties the rope to a rock and drops the end down. "all set fer youse to tie it 'round yerself!"

Nebula waved up at him in thanks and tied himself to it, then started climbing up the ladder.

It once again creaks, but holds! Wally hauls up the excess rope as he climbs so it's not too slack, but there's enough slack for ease of climbing.

At the top of the ladder is a naturally formed cave! Decently small and a bit dark. There doesn't seem to be any animals in it either. Once Nebula's at the top Wally works on untying the rope from the rock and uhh. Wow! He left a lot of excess up here! I suppose it is a fifty foot rope so it makes sense but still. That's a lot of rope.

He gave Wally a smile and a nod in thanks.

And then he saw the light, and stars, the amount of relief he felt at that. He immediately started running out, into the sun and into freedom.

Thank the stars.

Wally follows him out, coiling the rope properly as he does and squinting a bit at the sunlight. Shit's bright when you've been in a dark cave for a while. "D'ya know where we are?"

Nebula was also squinting, but hey! His eyelights had faded back in!

He shook his head at the question, though. He didn't recognize any of this.

"Prolly best we start walking then and hope for civilization." He huffs. It can't be easy can it?

"Or at least a road . . ." he murmured, starting to walk.

"Either way we'll get somewhere eventually!" He's still way too cheerful about this whole occurrence. He looks away and buries his face in his scarf, putting it back up where it should be.

They don't have to walk for long before- "Hey wait! This is that clearin' we were in!"

". . . How can you be so peppy about this?"

Wait, was it- It was! Oh, thank the stars. They knew where they were, they could find their way back without much trouble.

"it's called lookin' on the bright side. At least we're not dead or worse!" Optimism and several near death experiences.

They can find the road from here! Wally skirts around where the trapdoor was. Don't want to go through that again!

"Are you not at least a little tired?"

Nebula definitely gave that area a wide berth. No more. No more traps, no more puzzles, no more voice-stealing creatures. No more, please.

When they reached the road, he instantly turned back towards Toontown. They were not going to Happyesplayes after this. He wanted to go home.

"Oh definitely. Comes with th' territory! But griping doesn't do any good for injuries when ya need to be moving." He stretches as he walks and there's several clicks from his spine.

I think it's just a given that they're going back to toontown after this. No way they're going somewhere new.

Nebula didn't respond to that, simply starting to head home.

Stars, they still had hours to walk. He wasn't in a great shape for this.

"Just say if ya need a break. It's no good getting back to town and being too tuckered out ta make it to the flower shop."

"Mm," was all he said to that.

He really wanted to go home.

Wally is quiet as they continue to walk. Still keeping to his weird habit of walking on the side of the path instead of on it. Unless Nebula needs a break he's just gonna keep walking til they're there.

Nebula said nothing as they walked, but every now and again he'd wince and bring a hand to his face.

It hurt.

Wally doesn't comment on it, but he does occasionally glance up at Nebula to see if he needs a break.

Well, his eyelights have started to dim again and his pace has slowed. Seems like he might need one, but he certainly isn't saying anything about it.

Wally lets out a little oof sound and stretches again. "We should stop for a bit. We'll wear ourselves out if we don't rest."

Nebula made a small noise of acknowledgement, moving a slight bit off the path and just . . . lying down there for a bit.

Wally flops down beside him, pulling out a canteen and silently offering it.

Nebula waved it off. He didn't need to drink, so Wally should save it for himself. They had a long walk back.

"I've got plenty of water. That sword didn't exactly look clean, ya might find it good ta drink some."

"I don't need to drink. I doubt it'll help."

Wally shrugs. "You'd be surprised."

He gave him a skeptical look.

"It doesn't hurt to try?" he offers.

Nebula sighed and took it. "Alright."

"D'ya know how to wash out a wound?" He is ready to help if needed.

He shook his head. Not with something this big, anyway.

"Okay there's two options since it's by your mouth. Youse could drink some water and tilt yer head to rinse it around, or youse could pour it on and hope for the best."

". . . Maybe both."

He tried the first method first. When he tilted his head forward to allow it to slip through the crack, though, some of the water took the route that the crack gave and went straight into his eyesocket. "Agh!" He shot straight back up and started trying to rub it out of his eye.

"Ugh . . ."

Wally winced. "Ooh- not a good choice then? Here-" he pulls a small camping towel out and offers it to Nebula.

"Thanks . . ." he murmured, pressing it into his eyesocket, wincing as it brushed against the crack. Okay, okay, be more careful about that . . .

"Careful! It'll be tender for a while yet!" He cautions.

Nebula gave Wally a look. Yes, he could feel that.

He glances away "Sorry."

"It's fine," he said quietly, lying down again to collect the water at the back of his eye socket so he could come at it from the top and not risk brushing the bottom.

". . . Thank you," he added when he was done, offering the towel back.

He takes the towel back, though keeps it out in case it's needed more. "No problem kid."

It probably would be needed more, because now he was going to try the second method. He closed his eyes this time and gently poured some water down his face, shuddering as he felt it slip into the crack and pool in his mouth.

Wally holds out the towel so the water doesn't spill onto Nebula's clothes as much. Only slightly wet clothes are no fun.

Once he deemed it enough water, he took the towel from Wally and scrubbed his face around the crack. Not the crack itself, though. He'd already learned from that.

"Does that feel any better? It shoulda gotten the dirt and any little irritants outta the wound." He does not know how to care for skeletons ok.

"Not sure-" he winced and cut himself off. That hurt.

"Do you understand this?" he signed instead. It'd be so much easier if he could just sign . . .

He squints at the hand movements for a couple seconds before shaking his head.  "Sorry, my knowledge o' that stuff is outta date. D'ya want some paper?"

Ah . . . Well writing would be slower, but it would definitely work. He nodded.

Wally nods back before rifling in his pockets. "Alright lets see here..." it takes a second but he pulls out one of those free pads of paper real estate companies mail to people sometimes and a pen! He holds them out for Nebula to take.

Nebula took them both and started writing.

Not sure how much better it feels. It still hurts.

"Well yeah, it's still gonna hurt, ya got stabbed in the face! But it can do better in the long run because ya cleaned it. Prevents infection and stuff."

I suppose that's true, but that doesn't necessarily mean it feels better in the moment.

"Sometimes it does! It depends on the wound and if ya got a whole bunch of irritants in it."

Must not have been too many this time, then.

He looked up towards the treetops. Stars, he was exhausted . . .

"Naw, but it was worth a try wasn't it? And now ya won't have to do it later!"

Nebula nodded and gave the canteen back before flopping back down onto the ground.

Wally checks the cap and puts it away. "Ya wanna nap here or?"

The skeleton raised his hands in a horizontal shrug.

"I will take that as a yes." He flops down next to Nebula.

This isn't the worst thing they could be doing for their injuries right now.

Nebula managed a bit of a smile at that and he closed his eyes, allowing himself to relax a little more.

Then his eyes snapped open again.

He reached for the pen and paper again, wrote 30 feet, and showed it to Wally.

Wally tilts his head. "Thirty feet what?"

Nebula sighed and added, Wild magic range.

"Why’s that matter?" This man is an idiot.

Nebula gave him a look.

"Ohhh..." he nods in understanding. "I'll climb that tree then." He points up at the nearest tree.

Nebula looked up at it skeptically. He'd have to climb high to be outside of that range.

"It'll be fiiine."

Nebula has gotten up and walked thirty feet away from the tree Wally has chosen.

"I thought youse were tired!" He looks almost offended.

No response! Nebula has laid down and curled up, back towards Wally.

Wally grumbles and goes to climb the tree, then spitefully move closer via hopping between trees so he's 30 feet away diagonally rather than horizontally and therefore horizontally closer.

Nebula did not see this, but he did hear it, and he turned around to look at Wally once more.

Wally freezes mid movement upon being spotted. Don't mind him he's just an animal in a tree. Honestly with the leaves and the angle it's a bit hard to fully make out a shape. He makes a bird call in hopes of deceiving Nebula.

"Wally." He knew he was there.

There also seemed to be a peacock there apparently. He didn't know where, but it sure was somewhere around here and near Wally.

Wally stays very still and quiet as if that would save him from Nebula's wrath.

"Wally I know you're there. Please. You're already in bad shape. I can't risk hitting you with anything. I can't."

"I'm 30 feet away, youse won't hit me!"

"I'm already being lenient. It's still possible for you to be harmed from 60 feet away. So please move a little farther back."

"An' what's the likelihood o' that?" He does climb a bit higher in the tree at least??

"Enough of one." Enough to make him nervous about it. At least he did move a little further away, though. "I won't be able to nap if I don't know for sure that you're safe."

"I'll be fine! Here: if I see ya having a nightmare I'll move further away okay?"

Nebula hesitated. ". . . But you'll be napping, too."

"Naw I'll take watch." That is a lie he's absolutely going to pass out he's at eight hp.

"You'll fall asleep. You're exhausted."

"Naw. Just a little injured. Sides! I'm in a tree!" Horrible reasoning thank you Wally.

"If I recall correctly-" he winced, then tried again a little quieter. ". . . You slept perfectly fine in a tree the first time we met." Which he also knocked him out of with firebolt. He did not want a reenactment of that.

"Well I'm a lot higher up in this one ain't I?"

"Firebolt reaches 120 feet."

"So youse want me to go a whole hundred and twenty feet away??? I might as well walk back ta town and leave ya to whatever's out here at that!"

Nebula dropped his arm over his forehead and upper half of his eyes, being careful of the crack. He was too exhausted to argue about this. "Wally please." He hesitated. ". . . For my sake?" Stars, he felt bad even just saying that.

"I am literally thirty feet away!" Actually it's more than that. "That's well over what most would consider a sensible distance fer keeping watch!"

Nebula was very hesitant about this . . . but eventually conceded. He did do what he'd originally asked him to.

". . . Okay." He said. "Just . . . don't come any closer."

"I won't! I won't!" He did only bend the instructions in the first place. Though he does mutter under his breath, though Nebula is almost certainly to far to hear. "Geez he ain't even following his own rules."

Nebula definitely did not hear, and it was good that he didn't, because he really did not have the energy for that.

It still took a while for him to relax enough to fall asleep, but it was shorter than usual, because he really was exhausted.

And thank the stars the nap was dreamless.

It took a bit, but after he sees Nebula asleep he leans back, relaxes, and slowly, while he's trying to keep watch, nods off. Falling asleep in the tree branches in perhaps not the best position.

Nebula awoke first, and immediately checked to see how Wally was doing. Ah, he had fallen asleep! But didn't seem any more injured than he already was, and Nebula hadn't had any nightmares to cause magic surges in the first place, so he was likely fine. Thank the stars on that.

He supposed it was his turn to keep watch, then.

To be fair, he doesn't seem to have fallen asleep too much before Nebula waking. But also: he did fall asleep.

Nebula returned to the tree Wally was in, setting himself up at its base and looking around, nature watching.

There is absolutely no peacocks around despite what he heard earlier. Which is strange. You'd think it would have come out of the tree by now.

Huh. It must've left while he was asleep.

A few minutes go by before Wally wakes up and notices Nebula awake. "Heyyy kid! How long youse been awake?"

He is absolutely trying to play this off like he wasn't asleep.

He held his hand up to Wally in a show of five fingers. Five minutes. "I told you you'd fall asleep."

"I didn't! I was cloud watchin'! Youse were asleep for a while ya know."

"Sure." He didn't say anything aside from that, though. He wasn't going to argue when his mouth hurt.

"Ya ready ta go again?" He's already starting to climb down the tree.

Nebula nodded and stood up, leading the way back to the path.

Wally hops down the remaining 5-8 feet of the tree and trots after him. Back onwards! To Toontown!

Chapter Text

The walk is long, and there's a couple more rests, though they don't sleep at any more of them. Nebula was just glad when they'd entered Toontown in the first place.

"Now we just gotta get ya back to the flower shop!"

Wally is getting a couple odd or concerned looks from passerby because he has blood on him. But he doesn't seem to notice.

Nebula made a noise of agreement. Getting back home would be really nice.

He didn't notice the looks either.

By the time they got back, the shop was already closed, the wide opening to the inside covered by a large door. The large door that had a much smaller door embedded in it, and it was that smaller door that Nebula unlocked to let them inside.

Wally stops outside. "Well, yer back home! I'm going ta go deal with my stuff." Is he abandoning Nebula to Hickory's fussing if he can? Yes absolutely.

Nebula paused at that, turning to face him. What? ". . . No. No you're coming inside."

"Alright but consider: I could go get a stiff drink and some knives." Not a compelling argument.

Nebula has grabbed Wally, dropped him inside, and relocked the door behind them. "Come on."

Wally lets out a squawk when grabbed, then rights his hat after being dropped and looks up at Nebula. "Ya know I know how ta pick locks right?"

"Never said it was for you."

He started leading the way upstairs, but kept an eye on Wally as he did.

Wally is reluctantly following. He knows what's coming. Hickory is going to worry a lot. He feels a little better since he reminded Nebula he can theoretically escape this. Theoretically .

Hickory had been chilling in the living room when the two of them came in. Their first instinct was to ask why they were back already, but then they really saw them, and were instantly on their feet.

"What- Are you two alright? What happened?" They both looked terrible, and especially so Nebula with that crack. They took his face in their hands to look at it more properly.

Nebula didn't allow that, because as soon as he was touched he sank into a hug with them, burying the half of his face that didn't have the new crack in it into them.

Well, they were instantly hugging back. They glanced at Wally as they did, though, eyes searching for answers.

Wally stands back from the hug. Let the two hug on their own.

He shrugs before listing off the events of the day on his fingers, "Fell in a hole after we stopped for lunch, got our voices stolen, fought off a monster that wanted ta eat us, walked home."

He pauses and adds, "The blood is mostly not mine and it had a sword on its tail which it used to give the kid a new crack."

Oh geez. ". . . And you're just fine with this?" Wally didn't seem perturbed in the least about it all. Nebula, meanwhile . . .

At least they were able to fight it off.

Nebula pulled away from the hug and reached into his hammerspace, pulling out the remains of his arcane focus.

"Oh!" Hickory gasped softly, then placed his hands over Nebula's. "It'll be alright. We can make a new one."

Shrug. "It happens. Sides. He's the one who got messed up." He gestures at Nebula.

"He stabbed the thing in the side with a spear actually. I think that's what sent it running in the end."

". . . I think I'm rather concerned if you consider this as something that just happens." Ah, he wouldn't be able to use life transference for both of them or he'd be just as bad off as them.

Nebula snorted. "Oh, sure, that poke, and not the several gashes you gave it. You're covered in its blood, Wally."

"Well not this in particular but if you travel enough you're gonna run into monsters!" And he travels a lot.

"I only hit it twice! It's not like it was that bad of wounds." They ran all along it's sides?? "Just messy 'cause I hit some veins."

"They were bad woun-!" He cut himself off, grabbing at his mouth again.

"Alright, we need to deal with that now." Hickory looked at the both of them. "You two look after each other. I'm going to go buy some healing potions."

"Or I could go buy them and youse could work on patching that?" Wally please stop trying to escape.

"He wants to escape." Nebula? Immediately ratting Wally out? It's exactly as likely as you think.

". . . Well I would've said no anyway given your own injuries, but doubly so with that knowledge."

Wally crosses his arms and glowers at Nebula "Tattletale. I'd have to come back anyways if I'm buying potions."

He throws his hands up in the air. "It's not that bad! The thing's sword only barely hit my face! And being thrown into a wall is not that bad!"

"Still best not to aggravate them, especially after a long walk back. Go get something to eat." And Hickory has started walking downstairs.

Wally sighs. Nope he's not allowed to go do his own thing. He must self care. "Come on kid, lets go get food."

He probably ate some jerky on the walk not gonna lie.

". . . Not sure how well I'll be able to eat," Nebula murmured as they headed to the kitchen. Trying to wash the crack out had been bad enough.

"You'll probably be able ta manage something soft. Just keep it ta the side of the mouth that ain't hurt! Like when ya have a toothache or burned yer tongue!"

". . . I'll try." Stars, a whole crack was much more serious than a toothache or burned tongue . . . but soft foods would be good, yeah.

"Worst comes to worst? Smoothie!" This man would smoothie a hotdog it doesn't matter if they don't have smoothie ingredients.

Nebula nodded at that, resting his mouth for the time being. Smoothie sounded good. And luckily they did have smoothie ingredients, because Nebula would not want to eat a smoothied hotdog.

"Then ya just have ta be careful while drinking it yeah?" By now they've reached the kitchen and he's just diggin' around in the cabinets.

"Yeah." He helped look, finding things that he wanted to put in the smoothie and allowing Wally to take out whatever he wanted to eat.

He's probably just like. Stealing a fruit or something. Mostly focused on smoothie making.

Nebula has gotten a pencil and paper. He slide it over to Wally with the message You should make yourself something.

"Well we're making you a smoothie right now!" This man's forgotten the skeleton does not need to eat.

Wally I do not need to eat. It's more important for you to get food before I do.

He opens his mouth, closes it, then rubs the back of his neck. "I uh. Forgot that ya didn't need ta eat."

Nebula snorted and nudged him playfully.

Wally winced a little because he has in fact had time to bruise! But then he chuckles. "Well we're making youse a smoothie anyways okay? I had some jerky durin' yer nap."

Make the smoothie after your food.

"We can do both at the same time ya know."

You make yours, then. I'll make mine.

"Ya don't need any help?"

He shook his head.

"Alright then." He starts making a sandwich! But it's kind of hard for him to reach the counter so he isn't doing any of that spreading things and is really just putting lunchmeat between bread.

Nebula didn't really think much of it, a bit out of it after everything that had happened. He did manage pretty well to make his smoothie, though.

That's so valid of him. "Youse should probably take a nap after Hickory comes back with potions."

Nebula froze. Then continued as if he hadn't heard Wally.

"Sleep's good for recovery. All yer gonna get from not sleeping is exhaustion!"

He is . . . not responding.

Poke poke. "Hickory'll make youse sleep if ya don't."

He sighed, frustrated. "I took a nap not too long ago."

"I know, I was there. An hour is not a sufficient amount of sleep."

He huffed.

It's times like this he must ask himself: what would his friend with way too much life advice say?

"Think about it this way: would youse let Hickory get by while injured on only an hour o' sleep?"

". . . Hickory wouldn't do that."

"Oh yeah? Who says? And 'sides. It's theoretical!"

That's a very long sigh from Nebula. "Hickory doesn't have to deal with frequent nightmares."

"Well in this theoretical, hickory does."

He groaned.

"Would ya let him??"

". . . Depends."

"The correct answer is no. Ya wouldn't. In his position youse would not let yer friend hurt himself more by staying awake all night."

Nebula spluttered. "You can't say whether or not my answer is correct when you're asking what I'd do. And I didn't say I'd stay up all night . . ."

"Because you'd pass out from exhaustion which is not good for healin'!"

"I didn't say that eithe-!" He winced. Stars, he needed to stop talking. He gave Wally an unamused look, though.

He gives an unamused look right back! Or maybe that's just his face... his hat works very well for unamused looks.

Nebula has turned around and focused back on his smoothie.

Wally is eating his sandwich! Now they're standing in disgruntled slience.

And they're still like that when Hickory comes back.

Hickory looked at them both in silence for a moment before shaking their head and shoving a potion into each of their hands. "Drink."

Wally obediently chugs his potion. No sense staying injured if he's being told to drink a health potion, even if he really wants to just go sleep on a roof somewhere.

Nebula drank a little more carefully, trying not to aggravate the crack. The crack that, after a few seconds, was no longer hurting! He felt a lot better, honestly, but that was the point of a health potion. Not that it stopped him from being tired of everything that had happened today.

He touched his face lightly and frowned. The crack . . . it was still there, though. Shouldn't the potion have healed it? Why did he still have it?

Wally looks absolutely the same because his main visible injury bled and he hasn't cleaned it up at all. He looks up at Nebula to ask, "Ya feelin' any better?"

". . . Yeah. A lot. I just . . ." His hand was still against that crack.

". . . Thought it'd go away?" Hickory asked.

Nebula nodded.

They extended a hand to cup his face, brushing the crack lightly with their thumb. "It's okay that it didn't. It was a pretty big injury. The important part is that it doesn't hurt anymore."

He nods in agreement with Hickory's words "Big things tend ta scar, not go away completely."

"I . . . I guess." He should be used to this. He already had a crack in his skull for as long as he could remember. Why was he having trouble with this one?

"Now!" He pokes Nebula. "Go to bed."

Nebula groaned. "Sleep won't help with healing if I'm already healed."

"No, but it will help mentally, and you do need to sleep. Going to bed early is a good idea."

He's . . . He's not going.

"That thing was fucked up ya definitely need th' help mentally."

"Mm, and have nightmares about it, lovely." He didn't actually know if he'd have nightmares about that thing specifically but nightmares in general were common.

"Youse don't know you'll get nightmares about it. Ya slept just fine earlier!"

"Just because they're common doesn't mean they happen every time. And since I didn't have any last time I'll probably have one this time!" Does it work like that? Probably not, but sometimes it feels like it.

"That ain't how havin' nightmares works." He deadpans, before thinking some more. "If ya do get a nightmare youse don't gotta go back ta sleep alright?"

Nebula hesitated. ". . . Okay."

"D'ya want anything before ya sleep?"

"Not sleep?"

"That's not happening."

That's a long groan from him.

"Now we're not having this conversation all over again," Hickory said. "Is there anything you want to do before you go to sleep?"

". . . I don't know."

"Then it sounds like yer sleepin'!" Pat pat the skeleton.

Nebula sighed. And did not move.

Wally starts to push on the back of one of his legs. If you do not move you will fall over Nebula. He is the perfect height to push at your hinges.

Nebula startled and stepped forward. "Alright, alright, I'm going!"

"Remember to try and sleep while yer lyin' in bed!"

Nebula huffed, because that was very much calling him out, but didn't otherwise respond to that. He went into his room.

Hickory looked at Wally. "You should probably get some sleep, too."

"Yeah I'm gonna do one thing first but I napped on a coupla our breaks durin' the walk so I'll be fine for a bit." He is very subtly backing up as he says this.

Hickory is giving him a look as he backs up. "What will you be doing?"

"Buyin' Nebula a knife." Gasp! Not stealing?

". . . I very much appreciate the sentiment, but really that should wait until after you've slept. Nebula had had a nap, too. Actual long-sleep is important."

"Yeah, but I know I ain't gonna sleep right away, an' a knife is a pretty easy thing to get! Good thing to spend maybe a half hour on and then go sleep. I ain't the one with an insomnia problem!" No he's accepted he just needs to suffer through nightmares.

"And you've also been trying to escape. I don't want you out sleeping on the streets."

"Why would I do that? There's perfectly good inns around! 'Sides. People don't like other people sleepin' in the streets." He has continued slowly backing away this whole time.

Hickory hesitated, but, well, he did make a good point. ". . . Okay. Just make sure to take care of yourself, alright? That sounded pretty traumatic."

"I will! Ya think I wouldn't?" He shakes his head. "After that nonsense it would be ridiculous ta skimp on that!"

"Between youse and me though? Definitely worse fer Nebula."

". . . Yeah. You seem to hardly even care."

He finger guns. Sorry hickory you rolled horrible insight and he puts up a confident facade. He's practically out the door now. Goodbye hickory! He will see you around.

Not quite yet! Hickory tried to pick him up and set him down in front of them. "Clean yourself off first. Going to buy a knife while covered in blood is not a good look."

He lets out a small "a" and just narrowly escapes hickory's grasp. He is holding his hat on as he darts off with the hurried answer of "Naw it'll be fine I'll deal with it!!!"

He probably really stinks by now. But hey, is that a crack in his confidence?

"Wha- Wally!" Hickory called after him. But they did not chase. They did huff in annoyance, though. Was he really so desperate to get out of here?

. . . They'd have to ask him what the reason for that was, when he came back.

They can see him waving from outside as he stops running because that will inevitably freak people out due to the. Y'know. Blood. He's still going though.

Yes, he needs to be not inside. And buying knives is a very good excuse! You would think he would be fine being inside after all that time outside but no.

Hickory sighed and closed the door.

Chapter Text

A few hours later, Nebula emerged from his room looking . . . pretty terrible, really. He knew he was going to have a nightmare. He knew it. And it'd been horrible, too.

The lights were off, which meant Hickory and Wally had probably gone to bed. Stars, he didn't want to wake them up . . . He'd . . . he'd go stargaze. That always helped calm him down.

Well, guess what Wally likes to do when he just really needs to sleep outside? Sleep on a random person's roof! This roof happens to be within sight of unwilted wonder's roof, but just far enough it would be annoying to get over there unless you knew what you were doing.

He is passed out, face down, and still bloody. (He did not clean up because he didn't want to be soaking wet while sleeping through the night.)

It was after a couple hours of sitting up on the roof that Nebula noticed a familiar shape some ways away. Was that . . . Wally?

There were a few roofs between here and there that were close enough to cross over, so Nebula started making his way over, though there was one area that he found himself having to misty step across. But eventually he made it over.

He looked Wally over. Was he alright?

He seems absolutely fine! Physically at least. Which is surprising because from a distance he looks almost like he could be a corpse someone dumped on a roof. What with the blood he still hasn't cleaned off. You'd think he'd be worried about it staining.

He does however, seem to be emitting a quiet whine. And he mutters a very quiet 'bastard'. Upon closer inspection he's scrunched his face into the roof (which is most certainly not warm) as much as possible.

Oh, no, that didn't sound good. That was . . . He was having a nightmare, wasn't he? Stars, he knew what those were like.

He hesitated, then gently put his hand on Wally. He didn't know what it would take to wake him up.

Wally immediately startles awake, pushing up off the roof into a sitting position ready to flee. He glances around a bit unseeing before looking up at Nebula and gaping like a fish.

How the FUCK did Nebula get on this roof.

Nebula immediately raised his hands in a calming gesture. "It's okay, it's okay. It's just me. You're safe."

He just looks incredibly confused now, though he continues to not say things until.

"How the Fuck didya get on this roof just ta bother me?"

Nebula looked taken aback, and a slight bit hurt. "I didn't- I wasn't trying you bother you! I just . . . You looked like you were having a nightmare and I just . . . I know what those are like . . ." He wanted to spare him that.

"That does not explain how ya got on the roof." That's his main issue here. "There's no way youse coulda made the jump needed to get up here."

". . . I misty stepped. You know. Teleported?" He'd seen him misty step during that fight, hadn't he?

He squints for a moment before "Youse can do that now??" He is, in fact, an idiot.

". . . Since quite a bit ago, yeah. Did you not see while we were fighting that thing?"

He squints and thinks a bit before. "Is that what that was???"

"Probably? If you saw me disappearing and reappearing in mist, then yes."

"Wack." He sits there quietly for a bit before:

"Hey! Yer supposed to be asleep! What're youse doing out on the roofs?"

Nebula poked him. "You said I don't have to go back to sleep if I have a nightmare."

"Ahhhh..." Nods in understanding. "Ya still shouldn't be on other people's roofs in the middle o' the night!"

Something interesting to note is his accent, the whole time, has been slightly heavier, a bit like when the Voical was using his voice. Except it's Wally so it's not sinister it's just weird.

Nebula gave Wally a look, then looked down at the roof they were on, then looked back at Wally. "You do realize I found you up here first, correct? I was on my own roof. I only came over to make sure you were okay."

"I, am often on roofs. I have a lot of practice with roofs. I ain't gonna fall off the damn roof. Youse however, have only been on yer roof to my knowledge. And also live 'round here. Youse can't just leave if someone takes issue with ya because youse were on their roof! Also, I was being quiet."

He's also not caused any roof damage, whereas it was a tad lucky that Nebula didn't dislodge or knock anything. How light he is probably helps.

Nebula huffed at that, looking away. He just . . . he'd been trying to help. And all that was happening was he was getting told off for it.

Stars, and right after a nightmare where he couldn't do anything to help, either.

He just . . . he should stop.

"Do ya even realize how dangerous youse coming up on roofs without practice is?" He's horrible at insight.

He didn't respond to that.

"There's so many ways it could go wrong!" He starts listing off on his fingers. "Youse could misjudge a jump and just miss the next roof, youse could fall and break yer neck, youse could crash into a chimney, yer very visible so ya might end up spotted and yelled at, youse could get knocked off by someone whose runnin' across the roofs. And all o' that isn't even MENTIONING potentially causin' property damage youse could potentially be charged for!"

"And everythin's at angles so youse gotta find either a well rooted spot or be constantly aware of where yer standing and how youse might be be slipping else youse could fall anyways. There's so much ya don't know about for being on the roofs!"

Nebula hunched up as Wally kept going at him like this, and he squeezed his eyes shut. "Ok- Okay, okay!" It was insistent, but quiet. "Okay. Okay. I get it. I get it."

He was still very much not looking at Wally. Rather he was looking at the street below them. He had the feeling he was just worried about him, wanted him to be safe, but he got it. He didn't have to go through it all in such detail.

"I just . . . No. Fine. I got it."

Gentle pat. He stood up at some point. "I know it seems easy when ya see someone just doin' it casually but it's dark out an' when youse don't know what'cher doin' it can be really really dangerous. 'Specially 'cause youse had a nightmare and therefore still ain't on a full night o' sleep. I understand ya worry about people but youse can't just do stuff like this."

"Also, waking people up from nightmares can be dangerous for youse. I coulda stabbed ya if I had any weapons outside my hammerspace!" Because if they aren't trauma, his nightmares are highly dangerous situations. Wally please lay off on the skeleton.

"Can youse get'cher'self back down off the roof at least?"

"I said I get-" he cut himself off and looked sharply away.

Stars, no, he couldn't- He didn't- Not now-

He stayed very silent, regulating his breathing, trying very hard to not let Wally see the tears starting to stream down his face. Even though he was looking straight at him.

Stars. No. He didn't want this. Crying during conversations like this wasn't good. And stars, he didn't want Wally to think he was just trying to guilt him into doing anything either- He just- It wouldn't stop.

Ah shit ah fuck oh no is he crying?? Aaa what abort abort abort!!! Wally kind of just. Freezes up. Before awkwardly patting Nebula on the shoulder.

"Sorry..." he looks at the ground as he says this. How do? Feelings? Of others? "I got carried away there." He chuckles a bit, though it's awkward. "My brother used to give me safety rants about this kinda stuff. So I guess I kinda just picked it up from him." 

No- No, no, he noticed he wasn't supposed to notice-

Nebula opened his mouth to say something but very quickly found that he couldn't without making it worse.

After a couple seconds, he tried again, though it was difficult to get out through the tears. "I-I, I-I'm sorry, sorry- I- You were just- I shouldn't-"

He covered his mouth. Why wouldn't it stop?

"No. Youse got nothin' ta apologize for. There ain't no way youse coulda known all the dangers or anything." It's not like Wally readily sleeps around him within view, he wouldn't know.

Wally kind of. Awkwardly looks around and tries to think of a distraction. "Ya like bird calls??"
Thank you Wally that is possibly the worst thing you could have suggested to distract him.

Nebula shook his head. "I didn't mean- You were just- just trying to hel-" He cut himself off again. Oh, stars, he was just trying to help, just like Nebula had been for Wally, and he just- he just kept making things worse. He kept making things worse he needed to stop.

He- He needed to get away. Stop making things worse. Can't make it worse if you're not around them, right?

He stood up, magic gathering around him as he prepared to cast Misty Step once more, to teleport to the ground- and the magic immediately dissipated, a wave of exhaustion passing over him.

No-

He sat back down, trying to stop a fresh wave of tears from coming over him. It hadn't been eight hours of rest yet. He- He didn't have the energy to cast anything like Misty Step anymore.

He couldn't escape. What could he do?

Wally's question caught him off guard, though, and he looked over with a confused, kind of disgruntled noise.

"No, I'm an idiot about shit like this. I shoulda shut my yap and not gone on that much." At least he knows he fucked up and why. He seems a bit confused by the magic gathering then dissipating though.

Wally lets out a remarkably convincing crow's caw, then a seagull yell, then a woodpecker pecking some wood, which isn't a bird call but it's the thought that counts. None of that answers the question of why he asked the question. 

Nebula didn't respond to that, nor did he say anything about Wally's confusion. He'd probably be worried about him trying to leave, anyway . . .

Was this really okay, though? To be crying in front of him like this, not from a nightmare but just from him going on a bit too much? It felt ridiculous for him to be crying over something so small, and he hated it.

How could it be okay?

While he hadn't responded to what Wally said, Nebula did manage some sort of laugh through the tears, and he rubbed some tears out of one of his eyes. "Y-you're- You're good at that."

"Hey, I learned from some of the best sources. There's some real funny bird calls out there!" He makes some more, like a goose honk, a heron call, and the cry of a chickadee.

He managed a smile at that, quietly laughing a little more, content to just listen to these for now.

After a while, when he'd calmed down more and could risk bringing the topic back up without immediately falling back into tears, he ventured, "H-hey, um . . . Don't . . . don't tell me off again, I get it, but . . . I . . . I don't think I have the energy to misty step back down."

He was stuck.

He is very good at bird calls.

"I won't tell ya off again." He does NOT want to deal with crying again.

"Buuut... I don't know how ta get'cha back down. 'Cause a rope won't do well on this roof fer youse and I don't have a ladder." Very carefully tell him he's stuck on the roof.

Nebula sighed. Of course not. ". . . Suppose I'll just have to stargaze and watch the sunrise up here until I'm rested enough. Hope the owners don't mind."

"Eh, as long as yer quiet and don't knock anything people don't tend ta notice. D'ya think Hickory has a ladder? I could always go ask them fer help gettin' ya down."

"They do. But I don't want to wake them up when I came up to stargaze, anyway. I haven't really been inconvenienced with that yet, it's just . . . happening on a different roof than I was expecting."

"Fair enough!" Not much he can argue about that! "D'ya want company?" He's already awake after all.

". . . Yeah. Yeah, I think so."

Nebula sighed and lied down on the roof, folding his hands on top of himself.

Stars, he was exhausted.

Wally flops next to him after giving a couple tips to more safely lie down on the roof without falling off.

They laid down like that together for a long time, silent, watching the stars.

Long enough for Nebula's eyelights to dim in his exhaustion.

To fade completely.

To . . . Wait, were his eyes closing?

Oh. He'd fallen asleep again. Whoops, he hadn't meant to do that.

Wally passed out again pretty soon into them just lying down together. He doesn't snore so it's not super noticeable.

Well the good news was he didn't have a nightmare again. The . . . other news was that he did just fall asleep on some stranger's roof. Something he realized upon waking up and getting immediately blinded by the morning sun.

He groaned and sat up. Stars, he'd fallen asleep with Wally immediately next to him, on a roof. That was incredibly dangerous.

Thank the stars nothing had happened.

He didn't wake Wally this time. And hopefully he should be able to get down on his own now, but he wasn't going to just disappear when Wally had been worried about him falling off.

It takes maybe another half hour or so for Wally to wake up. And he still looks kind of tired when he does. He shifts, sits up, yawns with a stretch, and then proceeds to jump a little when he sees Nebula up on the roof with him. Because when you're tired you forget things like your friend being stuck on a roof!

Nebula chuckled when he jumped at the sight of him. "Good morning."

"Mornin'." He looks around a bit before, "Are ya still stuck?"

"Not sure. Depends on the time."

"Well..." He looks up at the sky, squinting at the sun, before his eyes widen. "Shit! It's almost noon!"

"Stars. I think we both needed the sleep." He paused. "On the bright side I'm fairly certain I could try getting down on my own now?"

"Naw I think it's more the walk back takin' a while then being up in the middle o' the night." He looks vaguely annoyed at the fact it's 11 am. "Can ya?"

"Mm, could be both. Or one for each of us." He paused. ". . . I can certainly try. If it works then it works. If I get dizzy then we'll have to wait a little bit longer."

He nods. "Hickory is probably up by now so if ya cant I can go see if they have a ladder."

Nebula nodded. "A good plan." He took a breath and stood up. Suppose it was time to see then. He certainly felt better than he had last night.

He said something under his breath and mist started to rise around him. He smiled at that, and took a step. And he was gone.

If Wally looked down he'd be able to find him on the sidewalk below, some leftover mist trailing off of him.

Wally does look around a bit! First at the surrounding roofs, then the sidewalk. When he spots Nebula he waves and gives a thumbs up.

Nebula waved back and called up, "I'm going back home! Meet you there?"

"Aight! See ya there then!" He calls back.

Time to do casual roof travel.

Who would get there first? Both paths had their advantages and disadvantages. Perhaps it didn't really matter much, in the end.

Unwilted Wonders was closed for the day, and Hickory was currently reading a book in the living room. He hadn't seen hide nor hair of Nebula or Wally since last night, and was getting slightly worried. Hopefully Wally had come back while he was sleeping and the two had gone off to do something together . . .

Wally is the first to arrive! Nimbly darting over roofs with ease. He comes in through the roof ladder incredibly casually. At least once he waves at Nebula as he passes him. Making a few surprisingly strong jumps in the process of getting back the quickest way possible.

Stars, he really was incredibly good at that, wasn't he?

Hickory paused when Wally came in through the roof. ". . . How long were you up there?"

"'Bout a minute. Had ta get the ladder open." He then flops onto the couch and looks incredibly casual and like he's been sitting there for ages because hes a little shit.

Hickory looked at him. "You . . . You know, at this point I shouldn't even question you deciding to come in through the roof. Have you seen Nebula at all?"

"Oh yeah, he'll be back soon." Unhelpfully vague.

"Oh. Where'd he go?"

"Out n' about. He'll probably tell ya when he gets back."

"What, is it a surprise or something?" It felt like Wally was being avoidant, but that could've just been Wally being Wally.

It is just Wally being Wally. He shrugs.

Hickory sighed. They supposed they'd find out soon.

Nebula did in fact come in not too long after that. He spotted Wally immediately and said, "You're incredibly good at that."

Wally looks like he's been waiting there AAAAGES. When in fact it's been maybe a couple minutes. "Hey I've been doin' it mosta my life! If I ain't good at it what else would I be? Yer slow though."

"I wasn't exactly running."

"Hold on, what's going on?" Hickory asked.

"Wally and I took different routes home. He took the rooftops and I took the sidewalk."

"Roofs are very efficient if ya know what'cher doin'."

"What were you two doing, anyway?"

"Oh. I, uh. Woke up from a nightmare and fell back asleep. On a rooftop."

". . . On a rooftop. Not our rooftop."

Nebula seemed rather embarrassed. ". . . Yes. Maybe."

"Yeah he saw me on a roof and came over but got stuck."

Hickory looked at them. And just . . . sighed. "Alright. Well I'm glad you two got back okay."

"He now knows not to go on roofs that ain't his, so yes!"

"Oh hush."

"What? I'm only telling the truth!" He's making an innocent face but he is not innocent.

Nebula snorted and turned towards the kitchen to make something to eat. He passed by a mirror on the way and froze.

. . . Right. Yes. An entirely new crack.

Of course he could feel it every time he blinked or talked, but feeling it and seeing it were quite different things.

Wally lets out a huff and crosses his arms, but he's smiling.

Wally is, unfortunately, an idiot who does not notice Nebula looking at the new crack.

Hickory didn't notice right away, but they did realize that Nebula hadn't moved after a few moments. They frowned and stood up, placing a hand on his shoulder. "Alright?"

Nebula startled and looked towards them. "Oh, I, uh . . ." He looked back at the mirror. ". . . I don't know."

Wally blinked and looked over. "Ya spacin'?"

". . . A little bit I suppose, yes."

"Food'll prolly help. Ya need help preppin' it?"

". . . No, no I think I'll be fine." He was a lot quieter than he just had been, though. But he did move away from the mirror and start looking for things to eat.

"Aight then." He's still flopped on the couch. No move to get up.

". . . Is there anything you feel like eating right now?" He needed a distraction. He needed conversation.

He thinks a bit before shrugging. "What'cha making?"

"Not sure yet. That's why I asked."

"I ain't picky. If ya need ideas, sandwiches are usually good though!"

"Egg muffin sandwich," Nebula nodded, taking out the ingredients to start making it. It was the only kind of breakfast sandwich he could think of.

He nods back. "Sounds good!"

The three of them chatted for a little bit while Nebula made breakfast and set everything up on the table.

Near the end of the meal, Hickory looked at Wally. ". . . Have you given him what you went out to get last night yet?"

Wally blinks and sits up straighter, smacking himself upside the head. "I nearly forgot 'bout that!" He starts digging in his stupid deep pockets before pulling out some fabric tied around something by some rope! He holds it out to Nebula.

Nebula blinked and took it, though he had yet to start opening it. He certainly hadn't been expecting a gift today. "I . . . what's this for?"

"Ya need some knives. Daggers 'r good fer defending yerself with!"

He paused at that, then opened the package to confirm that there were in fact daggers in there.

It's a pair of rather nice daggers! They have a rose design to them.

He touched them softly. "I . . . I don't know what to say. I . . . Thank you . . ." At least now he'd have something more than just his spear, in case he couldn't retrieve it in time to protect himself. And these . . . especially with their design . . . Well, they meant a lot.

Stars. He dropped his head into one of his hands. "I . . . I don't know how to use them well enough to be any good in a fight."

"You, take it, and ya stab. Pretty simple. I can show ya at least the basics if ya want?"

"Well I get that part but close range weapons have much different techniques than long range. But . . . if you're willing to teach then I'm definitely willing to learn.”

"Yeah, but it's still just. Stabbing in the end. Well, unless yer raking it. But that ain't as deep a wound. Yeah there's like. Stances 'n shit. But it's still just stabbing." Does he take it for granted how skilled he is with blades? Yes. "We'll need some space for youse to learn, but it ain't that hard."

Wally... Never did fully wash that blood off.

Nebula was very skeptical. He knew it was going to take quite a bit to learn. "'It ain't that hard' you say, after having known how to do it for who knows how many years."

Hickory was waiting for a moment to interject and mention the blood. He had not found that moment yet.

"Eh, fair enough. But it ain't that hard once ya learn it!"

Nebula nodded. "That I can believe. But learning it will have to happen first." And who knew how difficult that was going to be.

He nods. "Yep!" And, assuming food is done by now, he gets up. "Lets clear th' dishes and we can find a spot fer it!"

Hickory also got up. "Hold on. We can do the dishes." They poked him. "You need to go clean up. You're still covered in blood."

He blinks and looks down. "Shit! Right! I was gonna do that but someone-" Glance at Nebula. "-distracted me."

"I'm sorry? You were already asleep when I found you, and as soon as you woke up we came here."

"Naw it's fine. I just tend ta forget things when unexpected variables come into th' equation." He waves before plodding off to go wash the blood off.

Well, at least he was washing it off now. That took long enough.

Nebula and Hickory cleaned the dishes as they waited for him, and when he came back, Nebula said, "I'm thinking the park would probably be the best place?"

He doesn't take too long. And when he comes back there's. shockingly, no trace of blood on the fabric at all. You'd think there would be. Heck there should be! With how long it was left. But nope, not a trace. There is a scar on his face though. A small line of a darker colour.

He nods. "'S long as nobody takes issue with people usin' knives in the park!" 

Well, he cleaned up very well. And definitely looked a lot better.

"I think we'll be alright so long as we don't go near others."

Hickory looked over at Wally. "Please tell me whether or not you got any looks while buying two knives while covered in blood."

"Then it should be fine!"

He shrugged. "If I did I didnt see 'em!"

"Not even from the person you bought it from?"

"Naw that person was just tired." Just a 'this might as well be happening' face. "I've bought from 'em before."

Hickory chuckled. "Suppose if anyone would turn up looking like that it'd be you."

He shrugs with a sheepish grin. "Hey when ya've been around as long as me youse get a reputation for this kinda nonsense."

"I believe it," he said with a chuckle.

"Now, to the park then? Hickory do youse wanna come with?"

"Sure! I'd like to see how this goes. I can shout encouragement from the sidelines."

Nebula chuckled at that, but said nothing.

"To the park then!" He starts walking, just assuming Hickory and Nebula will follow.

And follow they do!

Nebula was wondering whether techniques would change depending on who he was fighting. That huge creature was much different than the small Wally.

Nebula probably has to direct to which park he means. But when they get there Wally finds a good spot with space for them to do things and not get in people's way. Then he starts going over basics and things! Readjusting Nebula's positioning and things. There is indeed different tactics for something bigger than you versus something smaller than you, but there's inherent similarities too!

They spent quite a few hours practicing like that, with Hickory cheering Nebula on in the back.

It wasn't long before he needed a break, and he joined Hickory on the ground, lying down and staring up at the sky.

Wally flops down on the other side of Hickory when Nebula calls for a break, taking out a canteen and sipping the water from it.

"How are you two doing?" Hickory asked, handing Nebula a water bottle.

"Tired."

"Yeah, it can be tirin' if ya haven't done it before."

"Are you not tired?" Nebula questioned.

"A little bit, but it ain't nothin' I can't handle." He does this stuff on the regular after all.

"You say that a lot."

"Do I?" He blinks in wonder. "Well, I can handle a lot, so it's no wonder!"

Nebula chuckled and reached over Hickory to poke him.

Wally tries to poke him back but he is very small so it's not very effective.

He laughed a little, not mockingly but just because he was having fun. Which honestly was needed after the day they had yesterday.

That's so valid. Wally stops trying to poke and flops backwards onto the grass. "When yer ready to go again just let me know!"

"Yeah, yeah. Just give me some time."

"Take all th' time ya need."

A good portion of that day was spent training, with a lot of rests. Hickory was actually the one who made them stop, because this was a lot for Nebula after what had happened yesterday, and they could tell it was wearing on him. He needed a couple days of break to just rest and recover.

They definitely picked up training again afterwards, though, until it was time for Wally to leave Toontown and go travel once more.

Chapter Text

It's maybe a month and a half before Wally's back in town, which is a bit quick considering he goes all across the continent, but he said he'd be back sooner to try and get a little more dagger training in. He did however give Nebula things he can practice to sharpen(heh) his skills without him around so hey, ya never know if he's going to actually turn up sooner rather than later.

This time however! He's at a coffee shop before heading over, relaxing with a drink and taking in the quiet ambiance of people talking after spending time alone on the road.

It was sometime after that that Nebula came in, getting something warm to relax with after a stressful day.

He sat down at the table immediately next to Wally, though he didn't seem to notice him.

After a moment, he took something from his hammerspace and rolled it around a bit on the table. Was that . . . an egg? He was looking at it rather annoyedly.

Wally didn't notice Nebula til he sat down, too busy taking a sip of his drink. But as soon as he did he waved and called "Oi! Hey Nebula!"

He looks rather the same, scruffy and vaguely dirty from travel, with the same hat, scarf, and coat as always. However, the scar he had seemed to be completely gone. Back to off white fuzz where it once was.

Nebula startled and looked over, then grinned when he saw who'd called him. "Wally!"

And then he seemed to realize something with a start and looked back to his table where the eggs were- wait, eggs? Since when had there been two?

Nebula seemed a little panicky about it and he shoved them both back into his hammerspace.

Wally picked up his drink and trotted over to plonk down at Nebula's table.

"What's with the eggs?"

Nebula sighed, exhausted. "Attempt at a new replication spell. Except it only replicates when no one's looking and it won't. Stop. Been dealing with them all day and it took forever to clean the lab. They seem to settle down in hammerspaces, though."

"Ah..." he nods in understanding. "Youse could probably sell 'em to people as a gag!"

Nebula chuckled. "We had such a scare with them today I'd rather not."

"That's very fair." He nods, before tilting his head. "What're youse gonna do with them then?"

"No idea. Keep them in my hammerspace and hope I don't grab them in a fumble."

"Makes sense. Not gonna try an' make 'em stop replicating at all? Have someone assigned ta watch them?"

"Possibly. We haven't talked much about it yet. If we were to have someone watch them then we'd need multiple, though, because they do respond to blinking."

"Really? Wack. That's barely a second!" He thinks a bit more. "Do they need someone ta look at em again ta reset th' multiplyin'?"

He nodded. "Generally it's only once per look away. But looking down to take notes tends to offer a lot of opportunities for that. And each egg on it's own replicates, so it increases exponentially."

"Ahhh. That's certainly a pickled egg." What

Nebula blinked at the phrase but said nothing. He could assume what he meant, anyway. And hey, it worked in the context. "It certainly is."

He sighed, then looked back at Wally. "So that's how my day has gone. How have you been?"

"Pretty good! Was over in Happyesplayes last workin' some jobs. Rescued a cat from a tree. That kind 'o stuff!" He gestures as he talks. "It ain't mu ch interestin' unless ya dramatize it, which why would ya? It's just odd jobs." One of which was robbery. "Ya come to this coffee shop often?"

Nebula chuckled. That certainly sounded like Wally.

"Every now and again. Needed something to relax with after a day like today."

He nods. "It's a nice place! Lovely atmosphere. Just enough people commonly in here ya don't gotta worry bout listening in on people's conversations on accident!"

"It is!" he agreed.

They fell into a comfortable silence for a few seconds, and it was then that Nebula noticed the lack of scar on Wally's face. He tilted his head. "Huh. We no longer match. I thought fur and hair and fuzz wasn't supposed to grow back over scars." Unless Wally's fuzz worked differently?

Wally was mid sip as Nebula commented so he slightly hurried to swallow (fortunately not having it go down the wrong tube) and put his drink back down. Not super noticeable, but it's there.

Shit he needs a lie. He usually doesn't see people that often that they notice it, instead just thinking he healed without scarring somehow. "Ah yeah! But y'see with some kinds o' fuzz it's long enough it leans over th' scars and makes 'em real hard to notice unless they're real big, yeah? My fuzz tends ta do that with all o' my scars n it makes it look like I ain't never been nicked!"

"Makes people underestimate me sometimes 'cause my coat covers up any big scars ah do have so they don't always think I've got all th' experience ah say ah do. 'Cause scars tell stories, and when people can't see yer scars they don't always believe th' stories that gave ya them."

He grins and gives a sheepish chuckle, breaking out of the more serious tone as he rubs the back of his neck. "At least that's how it seems ta be in th' underbelly! People say all those kinds o' hookus down there, ya'd think they were midwives with the gossip an' stories they share!"

Nebula did notice that, but he wasn't sure whether it was an emotional response or just trying to not make Nebula have to wait for a response.

What he said, though . . . wasn't right. Nebula leaned forward. ". . . That's not how it works. Your fuzz isn't nearly long enough for that. Even with Hickory's fur, it's not long enough to make it completely unnoticeable."

Shit! Shit! His lie is caught!! Casual shrug it off and take a sip of his drink before "Ah don't know what ta tell ya then. Scars can fade sure, but it's really mostly th' fuzz hidin' it. It just does that fer some reason."

Nebula leaned closer, trying to get a better look at where the scar was. Wally was acting all calm about it, but that . . . that wasn't how it worked. His fuzz was not long enough for that. It'd be better if he could actually brush the fuzz aside, but he wasn't going to just grab Wally's face like that.

It was a bit of scrutiny before he found it, but . . . "Well it does look like the fuzz is hiding it, but it looks like that's because it is growing out of it, rather than bent over it . . ." That was strange. Scars generally didn't work like that, and Wally had admitted such just a few moments before. Had he just assumed it was bending over it, or had he willingly been lying to him?

He paused, a hand trailing closer to Wally on the table, emphasizing what he wanted but not threatening it. ". . . Can I see it closer?"

He's acting calm because it's his only defence against showing panic. People don't usually ask about this kind of stuff!

Wally shrinks into his scarf a bit as Nebula examines his scar. Nebula is very tall and he does not want to be examined like a piece of art on the wall nor loomed over as he is looked at.

"Ah told ya it's hiding it, does it really matter how?" He tries to stifle his irritation but it shows. Getting prickly rather than showing fear.

Wally leaned back a bit and huffed. "Ah'd rather ya not considerin' it's. ya know. Over mah eye?" He then takes another sip of his drink despite it being practically empty. But hey, it's got a lid, so it's not like Nebula can tell.

He leaned back, concerned and a little guilty at that irritation. "Sorry, I . . . Sorry." He paused. "I suppose it doesn't matter, but . . . It's also strange that the reasoning is not what you said it was." He looked at him. Had he been lying?

"Right, yes," he said, pulling his hand closer to himself. "Sorry."

He's gotta cover up the lie now. Fuck. "Well it ain't like ah can see my own face. How would I know that it's supposedly different from what it should be?"

Wally looks a little bit like a small bristling bird honestly. You know when they tuck in and fluff up? Yeah. Except he doesn't have anything to fluff up much so it's just him hunching in on himself in discomfort.

". . . Mirrors and reflections . . ." He paused. "Are you alright?" Wally looked all in the world like . . . well, like someone caught in a lie. He had been lying, then. Why? Was it something with why his scar was able to still grow fuzz out of it? It was strange, but . . .

Regardless, he was obviously uncomfortable with talking about his scar like this, and Nebula's gaze softened. "We don't have to talk about it if you don't want to. But you don't have to lie to me about it, either."

"Just because they exist don't mean I'm examining everythin' ah can see in them." Yeahhh he doesn't really pay attention to mirrors and stuff unless he needs to.

Wally huffs. "Why would I lie about it? It's not like it's that strange." He definitely lied about it.

"You absolutely lied about it."

He squints like "are you sure about that?" Before sighing. "Well ah don't usually talk about scars with people. So forgive me for trying to escape th' territory we were goin' to with a lie."

Nebula gave him a soft look. "You could've just said you didn't want to talk about it. I would've respected that."

"How 'm I supposed ta know that though?" Because he's polite ya idiot. "Most folk don't respect that kind o' thing if they're curious. 'Specially people who do research."

"I'm your friend and I care." He crossed his arms on the table, leaning into them. "I'm telling you now so you know for the future: I'll respect that. I'd rather just leave the conversation be than be lied to about it, anyway."

"Alright." He looks doubtful. But he's a thief so he tends to be suspicious of people.

He's quiet for a bit before. "If ya really want ah've got a scar on my nose youse can look at closer. 'S older, but it ain't. Ya know. On my eye."

"If you're alright with that."

He shrugs. "It's not like it's in a spot where ya can actually poke me in the eye easy."

"It's still in your face, though." But he was given the okay, so he reached over to him. "Where on your nose is it?" He was only really able to find the other one because he'd already known where it was.

"Yeah well there ain't really anywhere else that's easy." He doesn't exactly tend to grab sharp objects with his hands. He takes one of Nebulas hands and places it on top of his nose. "Ya should be able to feel it."

And, yep, that's a slightly... hmm... stickier? Coarser? It's like when you get some watered down glue on some soft fabric and it dries. Not too different visually, and not ridiculously different texturally. But it's enough that you can feel the difference. It's not a big patch or anything, but you really wouldn't notice it without looking for it, or knowing it was there.

"Huh." He did feel that, and he brushed his thumb over it, watching the fuzz move as he did. Huh. "Never seen a scar like this before. It's interesting." He didn't look at it for very long, though, very aware that he was holding his friend's face, so he let go rather quickly.

It's like a soft fabric more than any fur honestly. He shrugs in response to the comment. "Toons're weird." Even though he's never met another toon whose scars do this. And he knows why his scars do this. Not that he wants to tell anyone ever why.

"A lotta people have scars more like yers. Ones that show up n stuff."

"Yeah. Yours aren't even noticeable. No wonder you're not used to talking about them." He'd had a couple questions about his own. Even more so with friends and acquaintances about the new one. "I'm a bit jealous, honestly."

"Well, like I said, people underestimate'cha when ya've got no scars they can see. At least with yers, youse got a visual of whatcha been through."

"Doesn't help when everyone who knows you wants to ask what happened and you're tired of talking about it."

"That's when ya make a pamphlet or address a bunch'o them at once. That or just hang a sign around yer neck!" He makes an almost rainbow motion with his hands "Stop asking about my scars."

Nebula snorted and laughed a little.

"Then they'd start askin' about the sign instead, different, less annoying problem. Then when you get annoyed at that youse can make another sign!"

He was laughing more now, raising his hands. "Wally- Wally-"

"Just imagine it! A sign that says 'stop asking about my sign'." He's grinning like an idiot too now. And laughing a little.

"Really'd make a statement!"

Nebula now has his head in his arms that are folded on the table, trying to speak through his laughter. "W-Wally!"

"Ya won't have to spell it out for anyone anymore after that!" He's going to keep going.

"Yeah I will! I'll have to spell the words when I write the sign!"

"Ah but after that!"

He's laughing again.

Wally joins in laughing. Jokes are great.

"Alright, alright," he said, chuckling, calming down from the laughter.

"In all seriousness at least if ya ever tell someone the story of how it happened, ya got proof of taking a sword to the face."

"That's very true, I haven't gotten that much doubt over my story. But I don't need people worrying a ton when I've already been helped."

"Maybe youse could cover it up with something? Wear yer scarf up higher for a bit?"

He attempted to do so. It fell down almost immediately after.

"Hmmm... youse need a thicker stiffer scarf fer that. What about a bandana?"

"I think I've had pretty much all the people I know ask about it by now anyway."

"Well then ya won't have to explain it no more!"

He chuckled. "Hopefully."

"At worst some stranger asks an' then youse could just lie and say its apart o' yer design instead o' explainin' it."

"Okay, but consider: I'm terrible at lying."

"Jus' say it with a straight face! 'S not a hard lie."

"Says the person who's used to lying."

"Yer saying you can't say 'It's part of my design' with a straight face?"

"I don't know! I don't tend to lie!"

"Try it right now then, give it a shot!"

He took a breath. "Oh, it's a part of my design." Hey, that actually went pretty well.

Wally gives him a thumbs up. "See? It's easy!"

"Now, but maybe not in the moment."

"Maybe not, but'cha won't know until ya try! 'Sides. Even if ya don't say it with much conviction, a stranger likely ain't gonna press."

"Fair enough."

"How're ya doin' with the new scar anyways? 'Side from people drivin' ya crazy asking about it."

He sighed. "Still weird. Hurts sometimes after nightmares." He paused. "Does that ever happen with you?"

He nods. "'s typical fare fer traumatic scars. I think it's called... Phantom pain maybe? I dunno. It's your brain being reminded that it hurt and acting like it's in pain because ya had a nightmare."

"Sounds dumb. And is very annoying."

"Absolutely. No idea how ta stop it though! Ya might be able ta find a psyco-whatsit book on it."

"I wouldn't be surprised, if it's so common." He looked down at his arm, pulling his sleeve down a little to look at the hairline fractures there. Wally would have seen them already, of course. He'd seen him from the start, before he'd gotten any semblance of clothes more than the few torn strips that'd had yet to decay.

"Interesting that it doesn't happen with any of my other ones. Perhaps the resurrection - or even just the lack of memory in general - sort of reset it."

He laughed slightly. "No idea if I was always a skeleton or not, but if I wasn't, imagine having phantom pains over the entirety of your body." He didn't know if that was how they worked or not, but the thought was still there.

He nods. "Well, if ya don't remember if they hurt or not, yer brain couldn't remember that they was supposed to hurt, yeah? And it ain't all scars yer brain does it to either. It's just that one was particularly traumatic, so it kinda remembers the pain. Though sometimes scars do twinge n stuff from like. Weather. But that's just because o' how scars are."

"Mm. Death is pretty traumatic, I'd say. Especially one potentially involving some sort of explosion. But if you don't remember it you don't remember it." He sighed. "Not sure how much counts in terms of memory, though, given the nightmares I've had about it . . ."

Nebula chuckled. "Oh I've definitely noticed that. It's a pain, really. Literally."

He nods. "Ya'd probably have ta talk to an actual brain doctor ta figure it out more."

Wally chuckles as well "At least it's sometimes helpful fer predicting the weather!"

"Probably." Did Nebula intend on doing that? Probably not.

"That's true! In an annoying sort of way."

"It is! Makes rain an' snow a right nuisance to trudge through and everything. Yer cold AND stiff n sore!"

"Oh, stars, give me the heat any day, I'll take it over the cold." He snorted. "Hickory would say the opposite, though."

"Hickory's got fur, youse don't even got skin. It'd make sense ya'd both answer differently"

"That's what I've figured. He can stay out in the cold much longer than I can. I have to make due with a heavier jacket or a blanket."

"If ya get a jacket that's too big fer ya, youse can layer it on top of another jacket, and be twice as warm!"

"Oh, I'd hope not to be outside long enough to need something like that. But layers are always good."

"Well I doubt ya'd be climbing a mountain anytime soon, so ya probably wouldn't need it. As little exposed to the cold air as possible helps too!"

"Well I have been climbing a mountain once a year, but I definitely don't do that during the winter."

"Th' mountain youse climb ain't snowy. Nor is it high enough ya need ta worry about snow in th' summer!"

"Nor do I tend to go that high up on it, anyway, even if it was."

"Exactly! So yer hardly doin' a great mountain climb."

"Indeed. But I will be climbing a mountain relatively soon. Just not one that requires something like that."

"Which is good because honestly ya probably don't even know what's needed for a hard mountain climb. Ya don't even keep rope on ya do youse?"

"Oh I very much don't know, no."

At the mention of rope, though, Nebula immediately reached into his suit and pulled out a coil of it. "Had to get a new one after I lost my old one in the tunnels with that creature, though."

Wally throws his arms up. "I have trained ya well kid!" A rope is very important.

Nebula laughed, putting the rope back into his hammerspace. "I hardly ever need it here in Toontown, though. But I definitely make sure I have it when I travel out to the mountain."

"If ya keep it on ya youse'll always have it when ya need it at least!"

"And so I do, as with many things in my hammerspace."

"What other stuff d'ya regularly keep on ya?"

He shrugged. "I don't sort through it as often as I probably should. If I remember I put something in there I'll take it out." But he did start listing what he knew off the top of his head. Work-related things, travel-related things, everyday things. His spear and the daggers Wally gave him. The textbook he'd found nearby when he first awoke, because sometimes he liked to go over what he could decipher from it. See if he could read anything new from the ink that had bled from multiple rains.

Wally nods along, interested, and he occasionally takes sips from his drink. If you can even call them sips when the drink is empty. "Have ya ever tried to bring that text ta someone who works with books?"

"What do you mean?"

"Like a person who restores 'em or somethin! Maybe they'd know how ta do something with the damage?"

He paused at that, taking the textbook out of his inventory to flip through it again. The pages were stiff and wrinkled and the ink bled. Especially in the margins where annotations seemed to be written, hardly any of which were able to be made out. "How common are people like that?" 

"Ehh?" He makes a so so gesture. "They tend ta work in big libraries and history places. But there's probably also people who work individually an' stuff. I could try an' find one for ya sometime!"

"We should both look into it, see who finds one first."

"It'd be the fastest method! And if one of us finds one first whose willing ta take a look, we can send th' other a letter so they know!"

"Alright! We've got a plan." He slipped the book back into his hammerspace.

He nods. "It's a pretty good plan! Though I can't say whoever I find will be wholly legal." Criminals need book people too!

He snorted at that. Of course, he should come to expect that from Wally by now. "If you can find someone legal then I'd appreciate going to them first."

"Hey I ain't saying they'd be wholly illegal either! It's just th' kinds o' people I got connections with! It's a normal enough trade that it'd probably just someone who stoops ta doing it for thieves no questions asked."

". . . Alright, fine." Besides, it wasn't as if his whole situation was entirely socially acceptable either. Actually, he wasn't sure if the way Hickory had resurrected him would fall under the parts of necromancy that weren't quite legal or not. It was consensual and not to harm others, definitely, but Hickory also hadn't known who he was, how he died, and they didn't report what had happened.

"It'll be fiiine. Prolly best ya get someone who wouldn't pry too much anyways"

"Suppose that's true. Is it common for book-fixers to ask about what they're fixing? I don't expect an arcanology textbook to be too questionable of a book."

"It depends, they'd be interested in books in general ta get into book fixing yeah? So they might ask about an interestin' book if it ain't one they've seen before"

"Hm. Suppose I could just say I found it left out in the elements if it came to it. That is true, after all."

"Yeah! They don't gotta know it was yers!"

Nebula smiled. "I do hope we find someone who's able to restore it, as much as possible. Especially the annotations in there."

He nods. "Maybe there's some book mendin' spells or somethin'!"

"Oh, I wouldn't be surprised."

"To what extent they work will be the question, though."

"Definitely. Dunno how much they would effect the notes if they were more fer restorin' printed text an' whatnot but who knows what kinda stuff they got!"

"Yeah. Yeah, we'll have to look into it, for sure."

He nods. "Exactly!" Before lapsing into silence, sipping at his drink again.

It wasn't long before Nebula finished his, and once they were settled they started heading back to Unwilted Wonders together. "Any more dagger training this trip?"

He nods. "o' course! Only way ya get better is practice! We could also walk 'round town an' look together fer one of the book people"

"Both of those sound good to me. We could look around on our way back home. When did you get in town, anyway?"

"Just this mornin' really. Came in here ta get a drink after time spent on th' road an everything."

"Understandably so. How far have you traveled from?"

"Last town I stopped in was the one just over from here, but I was down south before that."

"Ah, so knowing you, you'll hardly care to rest for a day before doing anything."

"You got it!" He fingerguns.

Nebula laughed. "Alright. I'd still like to head home first to get something to eat before learning more with the daggers, though."

"Very fair! It's always good ta make sure youse got a full stomach before practicing"

He chuckled. "I don't actually need to eat, but I usually at least have dinner with Hickory after work. It'd feel weird to not. Besides, they'd be wondering where I was."

He shrugs "So ya need ta stop by anyways, it don't matter what the reason is"

He nodded. 

"So. Any grand adventures since the last time you were here?"

He shrugs. "Eh, not really, same ol' same ol'. Someone hired me ta test their security system so I broke into their house!" His same ol same ol is exciting

Nebula laughed at that. "How well did the security system work?"

"Oh it was terrible. The guy rigged it up himself and it was easy to counter literally every part. Youse could just step over the tripwire he put up it was so visible!"

He laughed again. "Did you give him any pointers after you broke in?"

"Oh yeah, told him how I broke in and everything, so he'd know how ta fix it up. Assumin' he ain't the dullest knife at least! It's apart o' the job description, givin' advice after ya break in."

"Sounds like there was a lot he had to fix."

"Definitely! I'm gonna head back that way in a coupla months ta see if he's fixed any of it and needs me ta break in again."

"Honestly I'm somewhat curious to just . . . watch you do something like that, sometime."

"Hey, try an' set up a security system sometime then! I'll break it!"

Nebula laughed. "I'm sure you will."

"It helps that I am very small" he's under half nebula's height and it's so funny

"It does, yes."

"Youse would probably have to avoid tripping on some of the cords I can just walk under."

"Or I could teleport across."

"Yeah, but then yer usin' up yer spells on it an' if youse're breaking inta a real big place ya'd run out!"

"Fair enough, but this is a security system for somewhere smaller than that, correct?"

"I mean, probably, I doubt you'd be breaking into a mansion or somethin'"

"I doubt I'd be breaking in anywhere if we're being entirely honest."

"Yeah, yer too soft fer it."

"Oh, hush."

"You'd feel bad doin' it! Yer a softie"

Wally definitely wasn't wrong, but he still huffed regardless.

Wally gives him a smile and shuts up. They walk in silence for a bit before coming to the flower shop

"Hey Hickory!" Nebula called as they entered. "Caught a gremlin out by the coffee shop!"

Hickory peeked into the room and smiled when he saw wally. "Well hello there! I'll admit, I wasn't expecting on seeing you again so soon."

Wally snickers at being called a gremlin, and waves when hickory sees him. "Well, I was in the area and figured he'd do better with more basics sooner rather than later, yeah?"

"Certainly. Care to join us for dinner before then?"

"If yer offering, sure!" He isn't going to say no to free food

"Of course!" He was a guest here, after all, and more importantly, a friend.

Nebula stepped over to join Hickory and they fell into step pretty easily, making food together.

Wally sets the table because there isn't really anything else he can do other than wait awkwardly without messing up their cooking rhythm.

They thanked him, and once they were done, they placed the food on the table and sat down to eat.

Yay! Food! They all eat dinner. Wally is going to probably be quiet unless someone engages convers- oh never mind!

"How've youse been Hickory?"

"Tired. Someone bought all the enchanted flowers so I've been working on enchanting new ones. But aside from that I've been alright."

"Jeeze, what're they gonna use all those for? Remember ta take breaks while yer enchanting them"

"No idea, but that's their business. But don't worry, I have been. Rest of today will just be relaxing."

"Good! Youse'll need it. And hey, you'll have some peace and quiet since I'm gonna be teaching Nebula more about knives today!"

"Oh, will you?"

"That's the plan, anyway."

"Yep! Unless we get distracted or somethin', but I dunno how likely that is ta happen."

"Considering this is Toontown?" Hickory said. "Probably pretty likely."

"Ah, but will whatever it'll be be interesting enough ta drag us away from what we're doing is a question"

"Depends on what happens. I suppose we'll see."

"Oh definitely! Could also be we get bored and do something else too"

"True. Well, I hope you two have fun either way."

"Well I know I will!" He likes knives "Can't promise anythin' fer the kid though"

"Hm. That sounds ominous," Nebula said, half teasing.

"I mean, youse're the one learning th' stuff" And it can be a lot.

"Fair enough. I suppose it'll be equal parts fun and frustrating."

"We should prolly start headin' soon" they were almost done dinner after all "Before it gets dark and the like."

"I know. We're almost done."

It was only a few minutes later that they started cleaning up, and Hickory insisted on cleaning the dishes himself so the others could make the most of the light they had left.

 "So," Nebula said as they walked towards the park. "What have you in store for me today?"

Before he says anything, he pulls out a wooden dummy knife and hands it to nebula 

"Yer gonna try an' hit me with this!"

He is far too cheery while saying that.

Nebula blinked, but took the wooden knife. "I . . . Oh, stars . . ." There was no way he'd be able to hit Wally! Stars, he wasn't expecting a moving target already! He wasn't ready for this!

"Yer target ain't gonna stay still fer ya when youse gotta knife, so ya need ta learn against a movin' target!"

"Well yes eventually but I'm not nearly ready for that yet!"

"An' what if ya need ta use a knife against someone before then and you've learned everything fer still targets?"

"Uh, yes, I'd definitely protest! Stars."

"So ya see: it could be a lot worse."

"Though it's unlikely yer gonna actually hit me with yer knife.”

Nebula sighed. "Probably not. I still don't think I'm ready enough for this."

"You'll only be ready if ya do it, so come on! Try an’ hit me!"

Nebula huffed, but he did attempt, an attempt that fell vastly short. He gestured at the space where he missed like I told you.

"What youse think you're gonna hit yer opponent first try? Kid ya've only been using these fer a little while! Keep tryin'!"

Having proven that he would fail and thus not as anxious about failing to hit Wally again, he tried once more.

And this time, his knife hits! (Wally failed to spot a root and stumbled a bit.) He doesn't even wince at being smacked with the dummy knife.

"Whoops!" Secretly he's trying to encourage Nebula

Nebula blinked, surprised when he actually hit Wally. ". . . Beginner's luck?"

"Probably! And if yer worried: it don't hurt a bit. Now try an' hit me again!" He hops into a ready stance again.

Nebula took a breath and tried once more. 

Stars, he couldn't tell if the difficulty was from the fact that he was moving or from how short his target was.

Honestly, the difficulty is probably half because it's Wally. And the fact he just proceeded to trip over the exact same root he just stumbled on just before .

He seemed to be suddenly distracted in the moment before he did so though. So at least it's not because he's completely stupid...?

Nebula ended up hitting him again because of that, and he gave him an annoyed look. "You're not even paying attention."

"Sorry- it's just- that's awful early for a bat." He points up towards where a rather confused looking bat is flitting around up in the sky. "Geeze one o' the few times I notice things an' it's when I shouldn't be. 'S probably fine. Just an early bird lookin' fer bugs."

Nebula followed his gaze up. "Huh. Odd."

"Okay! No more distractions!" He paps himself on the face. "Lets do this!"

"Alright." He got into position again. And while his swipe did end up missing, he spotted an opportunity the instant afterwards and quickly got a second strike in. 

And this one hit! Smack dab how it was supposed to! The knowledge of this made Nebula's eyelights light up with a grin. "Aha!"

Wally staggered back a little from that blow and grins up at Nebula "There ya go! That's how ya do it!"

Highly encouraged by this, Nebula attempted another slash.

Wally dodges it with a little hop back. "Look fer yer opponent's weak points and gaps in their defenses! Predict where they're gonna move!"

"That's too much to think about!"

"That's why yer still learning! Try thinking about one, get ta the point of it being automatic, and then do the other! Get ta the point where ya don't think, just do!"

He sidesteps Nebula's next swipe with ease.

"What were ya thinking when ya noticed the gap ta do a follow up swing and hit me?"

"I . . . I wasn't really! I just noticed the opening, got excited, and went for it."

"Ya were subconsciously lookin fer openings! Already startin' to make it automatic!"

"But I thought the others were openings, too, but they obviously weren't."

"That's just cause you're still learnin'. Youse'll get better at it as ya learn an' practice more!"

Nebula huffed, but then tried to use the distraction of the conversation to sneak an attack on him.

And it would've worked! If he hadn't tripped on the same root Wally did and landed flat on his face.

He groaned and looked up at Wally. "I don't think this is going to work."

Wally jumped back to avoid being fallen on, nearly getting hit by Nebula's knife in the process, and winced when Nebula landed. "Youse okay kid?"

"Well yer only just starting, ya will get better! Just not right away. Maybe we shoulda put'cha up against someone more inexperienced though." He leans down to help Nebula up as much as he can, which isn't a lot, but Nebula is light so it's not like he can't help him up.

"Yeah, I think someone more inexperienced would be better. Or at least go easy on me?" There was no way he was going to do well with this with Wally acting as he normally did.

"You'd be able ta see their gaps in the defence and opportunities to attack easier that's fer certain." He seems to think for a bit before; "But I have no idea where ya'd find someone who ain't practiced ta train with 'cause yer the only person I'm teaching. Usually ya just go against another person of yer skill level when yer both learning"

Nebula paused. "Could see if Hickory wanted to learn. He's at least watched most of my training, so it wouldn't be starting from the very beginning with him."

"Hickory doesn't know how to use knives either then? That would probably work out well."

"Yeah. And then we can try to hit each other to at least get used to moving targets."

"Exactly! Though it's probably a bit late ta do that today. We could switch ta more practice against unmoving targets fer the rest of the daylight if ya don't wanna keep going against me" this is an out, take it.

He was absolutely going to take it. "Sounds good to me." And he finally picked himself up off the ground.

"Alright then, lets do a short run through of the stuff ya learned last time and then I'll teach ya something new!"

"Alright!" This was going to be much better than attempting to hit Wally.

Chapter Text

It'd been a bit, and Nebula had been exploring libraries both local and not, trying to find someone who might be able to fix old, damaged books. He'd yet to have any luck so far.

But! On this trip he has found books about the subject. He would rather leave it to a professional, but knowing more about it would help him understand the process and what could be done to restore it.

He already had a few in hand, and was reaching to grab another one now.

He happened to be doing so at the same time as another toon! Their hands touch and the strange toon draws theirs back.

"Oh! Sorry, I didn't realize you were reaching for that book too. Not a lot of people are interested in book restoration!" They let out an awkward chuckle and adjust their glasses. "I assume that's why you're looking at books about book restoration at least."

They shuffle their feet slightly awkwardly and if Nebula looks over... that is a whole entire peacock! A rather large peacock. But still a peacock. And also a toon? They have large round glasses on, as well as a little sweater vest with a lovely pattern. Their feathers are a bit greyed with age though, and they have a few books tucked under one of their... arms? Wings?

"Oh!" Nebula exclaimed as their hands brushed. He pulled his away, too. "No, no, I apologize, you should take it. But, ah, yes, I suppose I am interested. And I suppose you are as well?" Why else would they be getting books about it? Unless they were getting it for someone else, but based on their own assumptions about him, that likely wasn't the case.

"Oh no it's fine, I can just read it another time." They wave him off, before nodding at the assumption that they're interested in book restoration.

"Ah! Yes! It's a fascinating subject even if most don't partake in it. The care and upkeep of books is important even if most don't have old enough books to need to know about it. What got you interested in it?" Oh wow they talk a bit fast.

Well . . . They didn't seem to care too much about him taking it, so he added it to his pile of books.

"Oh, I, ah, actually have a book that could benefit from some restoration myself. But I've yet to find anyone who knows how, and while I'd much more trust a professional than myself, I figured it couldn't hurt to know more about it and how it works."

"Oh? Do you know what book it is?" Instantly curious at the mention of a poor injured book. "I used to do some book restoration work, I could try looking it over for you."

Nebula instantly perked up. "Oh, did you? Please tell me if you know it; I've yet to find it anywhere else."

And with that he reached into his jacket and pulled the textbook out of his hammerspace, offering it to them to look over.

They take the book gently, after putting their own books on the ground. And they look it over, turning it over in their hands and carefully opening it up. They let out a quiet low whistle. "What in Einquell happened to this book? It's like it was left out in the elements after being burnt by a flame!"

Nebula shrugged. "For all I know it could be exactly that. I at least know it was out in the elements for a long time, and it was by the remains of what looked like could have been an explosion." He paused. "Do you think there's any saving it?"

They squint and ho and hum, clicking their tongue a couple times, before answering. "If ya got someone skilled, I think you could fix the binding and some of the text, but I don't think you can save the annotations unfortunately. Though someone might come up with something that could save it later down the line if ya keep the book well!"

"Okay. Okay, that's something at least. And I'll definitely be keeping it well." He was disappointed that the annotations likely wouldn't be able to be saved, but maybe he'd actually be able to read some more of the text itself and get clues that way.

"But, like I said i used to do it, I haven't done it in a while so maybe there's something I don't know about that's been developed by now!" They try to cheer him up.

Then they rub the underside of their beak in thought. "I can't say I recognize the book though, but magical sciences was never my full forte."

Nebula gave them a small smile. "Hopefully . . . Ah, would you happen to have anyone you might be able to recommend me going to?" He hadn't found any on his own yet, but this person was in the business. They might know others.

"Ah, that's alright. There are many books out there, and this one has proven difficult to find, anyway."

They nod "The next town over has a bigger library, and due to that has a more robust restoration program, Winona over there is particularly skilled. Though that is a library so it may take a bit to get your book restored due to the large amount of books they take care of."

The peacock checks the back of the book, as he's still holding it. "I'd say perhaps it's an older print but it doesn't seem to be all that old a book past the wear and tear. So if copies were well kept you should be able to find them." Ah yes, calling a twenty or so year old book young. They really don't always think of what they say.

Nebula nodded. "I'll definitely check that out. Winona, you said?" He'd have to ask for them.

"You think?" he asked. "I haven't found any yet. Maybe I've been looking in the wrong libraries."

They nod. "Yes! Though if you go in on a day it isn't working then you might have to come in on a different day to speak with it."

"Perhaps, sometimes some books only circulate in certain areas, like how you would more likely find a book on local wildlife more likely in the area it's local to."

"Alright. I'll ask after it.

 "Yeah . . . Either way, I'll be keeping an eye out." He paused. "Thank you, ah . . . What's your name again?"

They hold out their hand to shake. "Fable, nice to meet a fellow book lover!"

He chuckled and shook their hand. "Nebula. And same here."

"Do you come to this library often?"

"Every now and again. Usually I'll stick to Toontown but sometimes I come here."

"Maybe I'll see you around then!" They glance around and then conspiratorially whisper (way too loud, but still library-volume.) "If you can't tell I really like libraries."

And then they give a goofy silly grin.

Nebula laughed at that. "Well in that case maybe you will! I'll keep an eye out for you."

"And so will eye!" They fan their tail slightly to the eye designs can be seen. Gods that was horrible. Then he realizes he is still holding Nebula's book; "Oh! I should hand you your book back if you're going to get it fixed up huh?"

He holds it out to Nebula carefully. All books should be treated with respect.

Luckily Nebula enjoys terrible puns, and he laughed at it. "Stars . . . But ah, yes!" He took the book gently and put it back in his hammerspace. "Thank you, again, Fable."

Their tail goes back down once the pun is done. "You're welcome! Good luck with the book repair!" And they scoop up their books give a little salute, and turn around only to brush nebula's legs with their tail. A hazard of such a long appendage. It does look cool though.

"Thank you!" he said, paying no mind to the tail.

Chapter Text

There were a few other times they'd met Wally after the knife training, but one particularly notable occasion was, ah . . . Well, Nebula had been at work in the arcanology lab, and . . . well it wasn't a wild magic effect, but it certainly was an attempt at a new spell gone wrong.

Suffice it to say, Nebula was now a dog. Neither himself nor his coworkers could figure out how to get him back to normal quickly, but after further examination it seemed like it would fade over time eventually.

He'd just. Have to be a dog until then.

He wouldn't mind it as much if he could talk, but that was proven off the table rather quickly.

. . . It was weird not being made of bone, too.

Regardless, this was going to stick for a while, so he packed all his stuff away in his hammerspace and headed out to walk back home.

Well, Wally is a bit of a chaotic creature that goes where the winds take him, so I doubt Nebula ever expects to run into him. Especially not literally! It was a bit crowded and Wally was tipping his hat to someone, bidding them goodbye, so he wasn't looking where he was going and ends up running into the dog's side!

Fortunately Nebula wasn't short enough to trip over, and Wally is quite skilled in not falling over when he runs into things so he doesn't land on his butt. His hat does end up a bit askew though.

He tips his hat to the dog. "Oh! Apologies pooch, I wasn't looking where I was walking!"

Wally smells a bit funny.

Nebula made a disgruntled mmrph noise when he was run into, quickly scooting away and turning to look at the offender - and then wagging his tail when he saw who it was. Wally! He hadn't seen him in a while!

What . . . what was that smell, though? He stepped closer, trying to get a better whiff. Had Wally been painting recently?

Wally tilts his head at the sudden tail wag. Maybe he reminds the pooch of something? They're coming closer though so he holds out a hand.

"Oh? Ya wanna sniff?"

And while Nebula sniffs his hand (and possibly elsewhere because Wally smells like paint literally all over. It shouldn't be possible to stink this much of paint without having had a bucket of the stuff upended over you yet there doesn't seem to be a speck of paint on him.) Wally reaches out a hand to pat the dog as he glances around a bit, seeing if there's anyone looking around for their pup.

"Where are yer owners pooch?"

Nebula blinked. Uh . . . Oh, stars, he was a dog, of course people were going to do dog things with him . . . But, well, he did oblige, sniffing Wally's hand. That was really strong . . . even compared everything else he'd been smelling. Stars, it was even masking his ink scent.

Nebula tilted his head at him. Maybe he'd just cleaned up, and the scent still lingered . . . ? Or maybe someone had cast prestidigitation on him for some reason?

Nebula froze when he was patted and asked about his owners. Stars, he was a dog. He shook his head. No, he did not have any owners.

. . . It was really weird to be seeing Wally from below, though. He was a solid foot taller than him now.

Wally lets out a little chuckle at the head tilt. "Yeah I know, I smell weird. Don't worry about it pooch."

"No owners?" Hmm must be a touchy subject if the dog is gonna freeze up like that. "Well, if ya wanna avoid the dog catchers you can stick around me for a bit." He's got this gentle tone the whole time, because that's how you talk to animals.

Seeing Wally from new perspectives leads to new discoveries! Things that normally wouldn't be seen as they're hidden up his sleeves. Specifically on the hand Wally held up for sniffing, there's a pocket sewn to the inside of the sleeve, and what appears to be a friendship bracelet tied around his forearm, three beads hanging down.

Well, pooch wasn't exactly a thing he'd like to keep being called, but he wasn't exactly sure how to communicate that, so he'd just have to deal with it for now.

Ah, the dog catchers. That wasn't even something that had crossed Nebula's mind. Yes, no, he'd definitely be sticking nearby for that, then.

Nebula did notice these previously hidden things, but he didn't think too much of them. Or at least not the bracelet. The pocket he assumed helped him in thievery.

He should probably figure out how to tell Wally who he was. But for now he'd have to hang out around him. Maybe he could lead him to Unwilted Wonders . . . ?

Well, he doesn't speak dog so he's just going to assume the dog is going to follow as he starts moving, saying, "We should probably get out of this crowd eh pooch? Are ya hungry? We can get ya some food if ya need."

He seems to be headed to the alleys; It's really more of a habit thing than any required sneakiness.

He followed obediently, but where was he taking him? Where are you taking him Wally?

Food . . . Well, he could eat, yes- Wait, would he have to eat in this form? Oh, stars. He hoped this wasn't going to last long, because he wasn't used to taking care of his body like that.

Yes, though. Yes, he'd definitely eat then if he potentially needed to. Nebula trotted along a little faster.

Well, it doesn't take too long before Wally starts chattering away as they walk, occasionally glancing to see if the dog is still keeping up.

"You're a smart pooch aren't ya? Living on the streets probably if ya have no owners. Do ya travel much? Or have ya just been lucky not to run into the dog catchers yet?" He doesn't wait long for the dog to respond. He's an expert at one sided conversations. Just enough for a nod or shake before plowing on.

"If we're going to get'cha something to eat, we should probably come up with somethin' ta call ya other than pooch. Folk might get curious otherwise... Even if we are going to a dog friendly grocery!" He looks over the dog, trying to think of a name for them.

Well I've only been a dog for half a day, so that's how I've avoided them, Nebula thought, though he didn't give Wally any actual response.

Nebula stopped, blinking, then hurried to keep up. Oh, stars, was he going to name him? He didn't need a dog name! He didn't want a dog name! He liked his own!

. . . But would a seeming lack of name gather attention?

Oh, stars, were people going to ask if they could pet him?

"Hmmm... Youse remind me a bit of a pal 'o mine who likes space... So how about Pluto? It's the dog planet after all." Little does Wally know, this is his friend.

Now, Wally could have multiple friends who like space, but chances were based on his fur pattern, he meant Nebula, and Nebula's tail wagged at that. Yes, that was him, he was that friend!

Oh, wait . . . He was probably just going to take that tail wag as agreement with the name Pluto, wasn't he . . . Oh stars . . .

"Pluto it is then! Just in time too. We're almost there!" He points up ahead out of the back alleys annnd... that's a grocery store! This is possibly the most ridiculous way to get to a grocery store. At least it has a dog friendly sign?

"Come on then, let's get you a sandwich." Good thing he doesn't keep track of what dogs eat exactly so Nebula gets to eat not dog food! And good thing dogs are nuts with what they can eat due to being omnivorous.

Yup. Yup, he was taking that as agreement to the name. Stars, he could have at least named him Star or something . . .

A sandwich was good, though. A sandwich was much better than dog food. Would Wally let him pick out some other small snack foods as well?

"Okay so when we go in you have to stick more or less by my side so that they don't think you're in there alone okay? Other than that as long as you don't cause problems it's smooth sailing."

And, assuming Pluto understands, and therefore greatly overestimating some dog's intelligence. Fortunately however, Nebula is not normally a dog and therefore understands common just fine. Anyways Wally starts heading to the store! And he holds the door open for Pluto because dogs don't have hands.

Nebula nodded in understanding, and then nodded again in thanks when the door was opened for him. Attempting to open it himself would . . . not result in anything great.

Oh, the smells in here, though. He stood by Wally, but his nose was definitely in the air, sniffing around.

It smells excellent in here! Truly desirable a location to visit if you have a sense of smell. They have a bakery!

"Yeah it smells good in here doesn't it? Sandwiches are this way Pluto." And he's heading over to a bit that displays those little premade sandwiches that are overly expensive for what they're made of but are really convenient if you just need some lunch.

Wally looks over them a bit before looking to Pluto. "Any of them catch your fancy?"

Nebula followed along, sniffing around each one before eventually deciding on whichever smelled best. He pointed at it with his snout and then sat down and looked back at Wally.

"Good choice!" He picks up the sandwich pointed to as well as one for himself before looking back at Pluto. "Anything else ya want while we're here pal?"

At that question, Nebula went looking around for some snacks. Not anything fancy, but something to go along with the sandwich.

Luckily what he wanted was on one of the lower shelves, so he was able to pull it off himself and give it to Wally.

Wally uses that time to grab some extra water for the both of them and takes the snacks. Now all they have to do is pay! Which doesn't take long at all. Then they're home free. That was a very quick shopping stop.

Once outside Wally considers a bit before saying "D'ya wanna go eat lunch in the park? It's a nice day out. Maybe there'll be some other dogs for ya to say hello to!"

Oh, other dogs . . . That would spell shenanigans for sure.

But, well . . . Eating at the park did sound good, so he nodded.

"To the park then! There's one not far from here." To the park!!! It's not a long walk, but Wally will chatter anyways!

"Yer a smart dog Pluto. A lot smarter than most dogs I've met. Then again I haven't met a lot of dogs. Pick up too many weird smells from traveling, so not a lot of dogs tend ta stick around. Actually not a lot of cats or whatever either. Stuff with a fine sense of smell tends ta dislike being too close to me. I don't find much issue in it though. Once I had a bird land on me to keep away from a cat. That was pretty funny. You can probably get loads of places due to being a dog. Do you ever see stuff like that happen? Wait you're a dog you can't answer. Haha whoops!"

Spending more time around Wally with a keen sense of smell lets other bits of his smell become noticeable. Getting past the general overwhelming smell of paint (which doesn't seem to have faded at all) there's a lot more subtle hard to place scents. Like stone and musty areas, city dust, and trees. As well as various jumbled scents picked up from being around the area a bit, with ink jumbled in there somewhere.

It's odd for Ink to be such a small part of his scent, but hey, maybe everything else just overwhelms it?

Well of course he was a smart dog. He was a toon! And supposed to not be a dog, anyway!

Did they really not stick around because of the amount of scents? He'd have expected it to be the other way around. Though right now the majority of what he could smell was just that overwhelming scent of paint. Though by now he had found that underlying ink smell.

It was odd, that it was so faint. Really, he'd have expected it to be as strong as the paint smell, and for the paint smell to be the fainter one. It was almost like he was made from paint rather than ink . . .

. . . Was he?

Ah, now he's up snuffling Wally again. Because that thought sounds so strange and he has no idea what to make of it, and maybe a more thorough sniffing will somehow give him a better idea.

To be fair: Wally is an idiot who doesn't know that. Though he may eventually find out! But probably not before Nebula transforms back.

He seems surprised by the sudden sniffing "Hey! We're almost at the park buddy, then we can eat the food yeah?"

Sniffing harder, it's definitely a majority paint smell, as well as the smell of... stone in general of all things? City dust and cement but also old musty stone, like the kind you'd find in old built places. With nature being a closer follow up from how much time he spends on the road. But the main thing revealed by sniffing harder is that the ink smell is more... jumbled. And odd. More like how a reelkind or perhaps a hausen toon might smell when they interact with other toons a lot, ones made of ink, than the kind of Ink smell that one would get from being made of ink.

But... Toons aren't made of Paint ever, are they?

"Hey! There's the park! Come on Pluto, I know a nice shady spot." It's a small park, but a nice one. Plenty of spots to sit.

Nebula was fascinated by all of these smells. He wanted to ask . . . but would that be an invasive question? Should he just let it be? He wasn't sure . . .

He was brought out of his thoughts by Wally's remark. Right, food. He followed the gremlin to whatever spot he had in mind, looking around the place as he did so.

Well, it's not like he can ask right now anyways, he's a dog. So... moral quandary for later? Assuming he ever tells Wally he was the dog.

The shady spot is a very nice shady spot with nice soft grass. Wally sits near the tree and pulls out their bought lunch from his hammerspace, opening Pluto's sandwich for him and putting it on the ground. As well as some of the snacks.

Then he lets Pluto start eating while he grabs a bowl from his hammerspace and pours some of the water he bought into it. "There we go, food and water!"

Well, his food is on the ground now. He's a dog. It should be fine, right? He carefully nibbled on it, using not his paw but the underside of his front leg to hold it down and tear pieces off. This was weird. This was really weird.

And he was thirsty. And he recognized it as thirst so maybe he had needed to at least drink something before he'd died? The dilemma now was . . . how to drink.

He didn't want to get water up his nose. He'd seen dogs drink with their tongues before, but . . . Well, he just had to hope it'd be instinctual.

He did try, though, making small laps at the water to test it out.

At least it's a good sandwich? Its not getting too messed up by being on the ground held down by dog leg.

Wally watches Pluto trying to drink as he bites into his own sandwich. Quietly wondering how such a polite dog hasn't been taken in yet. Well, maybe they just hop between street rat charity and found a good spot for sleeping. (Un)Fortunately he doesn't have a ridiculous amount of experience with dogs so he doesn't see anything weird about how Pluto is trying to drink the water.

Dogs' tongues are very weird and big and floppy and I doubt anyone's first guess to how dogs drink is curling their tongues backwards to scoop up water. So... good luck Nebula? Dogs are fricking weird.

Wally is surprisingly content eating his sandwich in silence. Guess there's only so much one can say to a dog without it getting awkward- "How's the sandwich Pluto?" Oh nevermind.

Hm. Hm. This wasn't working. He was getting hardly any water out of this at all. His next attempt was biting the water, which at least worked better than licking it, but was much messier. And ended up with water in his nose. Heck.

He sneezed, which at least got the water out, then glanced around, trying to see if there were any other dogs he could learn from.

He did wag his tail softly at the question, though. It was good.

Wally chuckles at the biting of water and the follow-up sneeze. "Ya having fun pooch?"

There's a few dogs around. Playing and having fun. Or just walking around. There's maybe one dog stopped to drink from a community water bowl. But it isn’t quite at an easy angle to see what's happening with the drinking.

Nebula huffed some air at him, but otherwise let the comment be.

Oh, there was a dog drinking! He trotted up to examine the process closer.

Wally gave a vaguely confused look at Pluto leaving to seemingly go to another water bowl for?? More water or something?? Or maybe he's saying hello to the other dog. Eh, who knows. He just watches from afar with another bite of his sandwich.

The dog at the water bowl looks up from drinking at the new dog approaching, hello? New dog? It tilts it's head and lets out a small wuff before going back to what it was doing.

Nebula nodded a greeting in response. That probably wasn't dog behavior but he wasn't supposed to be a dog. He tilted his head, watching them for a little. This dog was also lapping it up, but . . . all the water seemed to gather in a curl at the back of its tongue, rather than the front. Was that how that worked . . . ?

Well, he wasn't going to test it in a bowl other dogs had been drinking from - dog backwash was not something he wanted to ingest - but he trotted back to Wally and the water bowl he'd left for him here and attempted the same maneuver. He wasn't the best at it, but . . . it was working better than anything else he'd tried, at least.

It sure isn't a dog greeting, unfortunately Wally sucks at perceiving and doesn't realize this. That does not however prevent him from voicing his confusion. "What were ya doing over there?"

Nebula paused, trying to think of how to answer the question. How does one communicate learning how to drink through gestures?

He used a paw to point over at the dog by the communal watering bowl, then mimed the tongue motion, then gestured at his own bowl.

. . . That probably made no sense to him, did it?

Wally scrunches up his face, trying to decipher what on earth the dog was trying to say, but eventually just kind of. Confusedly nods. "Alright then."

He most certainly did not understand.

"Well, I got more snacks." He pulls out the snacks Pluto picked out, and, with some clever trickery that he most certainly didn't come up with on his own, turns the bag into a bowl to hold the snacks.

. . . He didn't get it, did he? Ah . . . Well at least it wasn't that important.

Oh! Nebula's tail wagged at the trick, and he stepped closer to take some snacks. And he is most certainly not eating like a dog, carefully using his teeth to take individual pieces.

Wally chuckles at that. "The friend I mentioned earlier likes those too. You'd probably like him. He's a bleeding heart, despite the stuff he's been through."

Nebula huffs! He's that friend!!!

Wait. Wait wait he still had his arcane focus. He'd put it in his hammerspace with all his other stuff. Maybe that would show him who he was. He nuzzled through his neck fluff and pulled out the space-like flower.

Wally was about to talk more but then this random dog he just met pulled out what he knows is his friend's arcane focus from various circumstances, from its neck fluff. And now he's just immensely confused.

It takes a solid few seconds before he very confusedly asks "How-How'd ya get that?"

Ah, he wished he could hold it where it was supposed to be, but dog paws don't work like that! He settled instead with lying down, nuzzling the flower into the crook of his chest and elbow, and looking at Wally hopefully with a slow wag of his tail. Please let him realize from this . . .

He gave a small woof for extra measure.

He kind of sits there, processing, and debating between three separate outcomes. Either a. This dog is his friend. B. This dog stole his friend's arcane focus which is very very important. Or C. His friend is stuck somewhere (possibly dead) and gave this dog a very identifiable item with which to get help.

He rules off Nebula giving the arcane focus because the dog is way too casual- wait no what if he distracted it with food and that's why- and Nebula could be hurt anyways if he lost his arcane focus, especially considering last time- but also what if dog is Nebula??? Then Nebula is dog and is casual about it??? Did Nebula turn himself into a dog??? Why??? Didn't try and get Wally to realize. What????

He vaguely gestures with a little noise before sticking his head in his hands and letting out a vague, maybe muffled scream, maybe sigh of absolute bewilderment. And he sits like that for a moment before pointing at the dog (Nebula? Pluto?) and saying

"You! Eat your snacks and then we're going to see Hickory."

And then he mumbles something along the line of "hickory's a dog Hickory can speak dog right??" But it's really half gibberish it's so quiet.

Oh, stars, he really just confused him, didn't he? Agh, why was this so hard?

When Wally uncovered his hands, he would have seen a dog's face right up in his own. Nebula was concerned about his reaction and wanted to make sure he was doing alright. The arcane focus was gone, back in his hammerspace.

Oh! Oh Hickory! Hickory would be able to figure it out for him! This was probably the fastest his tail has wagged yet, and Nebula was very quick about finishing off his snacks before taking Wally's sleeve in his mouth and dragging him in the direction of Unwilted Wonders.

Wally lets out a little yelp at sudden dog face when uncovering his face. Congrats you surprised him!

As Nebula/Pluto chows down on snacks Wally gets up off the ground and brushes himself off. Then his sleeve is grabbed and he is pulled and!- he is not pulled off his feet. He does, however, stumble a bit. "Hang on! Hang on! We need to get the trash. I know I'm a criminal but there doesn't need to be more litter around."

He picks up the trash and the bowl(dumping any remaining water out) and tucks them in his coat (and therefore hammerspace) before letting himself be dragged off to Unwilted Wonders.

His sleeve tastes like well, cloth. Specifically a thick cloth. Wool or something of the like. But there's something... off. About it. Or that might just be dirt. I doubt it stays completely clean, what with him wearing it everywhere.

Nebula paced impatiently as he got the trash, and then once again he grabbed his sleeve and started running. The taste was . . . weird, but he could deal with it.

Luckily, though it was just hitting closing time, Hickory had yet to lock the doors, so Nebula was able to nudge aside the door and slip inside ahead of Wally.

Wally still looks incredibly confused as he follows the dog in and waves at Hickory. "Hey Hickory! We have a problem maybe!"

What an excellent way to start that.

Well that instantly concerned Hickory. "What's going on?" they asked, glancing over at Wally and this new dog. They'd say hello, but, well, this seemed more pressing.

"Okay so I ran into this dog while out and about and gave it some food and we hung out in the park for a bit and I thought it looked a bit like Nebula maybe but then while at the park it pulled out Nebula's Arcane focus and I don't know if Nebula is the dog or it stole the focus or if it got lost or if Nebula's gotten himself hurt somewhere and that's why this dog has the focus but also it's entirely possible he's the dog but he didn't seem all that worried about it so did he turn himself into a dog but why would he do that and basically there's so many possibilities and I didn't even know if you knew where Nebula was!"

I didn't remove the spaces so that's even slightly readable, but believe me when I say Wally said all of that very fast. How does one even TALK that much in one breath? Also, he pulled out a deck of cards and started shuffling a third of the way through so he stops wildly gesturing and almost drops them at the end.

Hickory blinked several times at that explanation, just processing everything that had been said. They didn't get all the details, but they did get the gist, so they kneeled down to look at this dog more closely, placing one hand on his neck. "Can I see the arcane focus?"

Nebula took it out of his neck fluff and placed it on the ground.

Satisfied that that was indeed Nebula's, they looked up at Wally, then back down at the dog. "Well, let's start simple. Are you Nebula?"

That instantly got a nod, along with his tail whipping back and forth. Thank the stars. Why hadn't Wally thought to simply ask? Things would have been so much easier then.

Hickory chuckled. "Well there you have it. I'll have to say this is a new one, though." They ruffled the top of his head, resulting in a disgruntled bark.

He face palms "Why didn't I think of that?" Because he got a two rolling to figure it out. Not that he knows that.

"Well... At least he didn't get caught by the dog catchers?"

"That's definitely a plus."

Nebula barked at Wally, like hello it's me, you know it's me now.

Hickory chuckled. "Didn't you have a question or something in regards to if Nebula was the dog? I didn't quite catch it."

Wally turns and looks at Nebula when he barks and nods. "Yea yea. It's obvious now that I know . But would you have expected to run into someone you know turned into a dog?"

A little exclamation mark appears over Wally's head at Hickory reminding him. "Oh yeah! How in the dickens did ya manage to end up a dog?"

Nebula didn't respond to that first comment aside from an annoyed huff. The second one, though . . . well, that one didn't exactly get responded to either, but that was because he wasn't sure how to. He tilted his head a little in thought, then shook his head. He didn't know how to explain like this.

"Was it a magic surge?" Hickory asked.

He shook his head.

"Did it happen at work?"

That one got a nod!

Wally scratches his head a bit. "I'm surprised they didn't want ya to stay so someone couldn't check if there was any side effects. Do ya know how long it's gonna last kid?"

This was the side effect, and it happened at the beginning of the day so they'd checked him over plenty. Though he didn't know how to communicate that. And it was getting especially hard to think about it now. Stars, why was he so tired? He'd slept plenty at work.

Nebula shook his head, then pointed at the clock.

"Just time, then?"

He nodded.

"Ahhh. Well!" He looks to Hickory. "Do you know anything about dogs? Because I sure ain't knowledgeable of 'em."

"Well I sure would hope so." He was one, after all. He looked at Nebula. "I can help you figure things out if you need them. You're more of a traditional dog than I am so I expect you to need more traditional dog things."

Nebula wagged his tail a little. He'd definitely like the help. Stars, attempting to drink had been a mess.

"What kinds of more traditional dog things d'ya think? I got him a sandwich earlier." Ah yes. Sandwich.

"What kind of sandwich? There are a lot of plant-type foods that are poisonous to dogs, but I don't expect anything found in most sandwiches to contain any of them. Still, better to make sure."

Hm. Many plant-type foods being poisonous didn't sound great.

He wasn't feeling that bad currently, at least?

"Uhh I think it was pot roast or something? Let me check." He rifles in his coat a bit, giving Nebula a look of "see? It was a good idea to pick up the garbage" and pulls out the packaging for the sandwich, holding it out for Hickory to check.

Nebula huffed. He hadn't been against picking up the garbage. He didn't exactly want to litter, either. He'd just been ecstatic at the possibility of Wally figuring out who he was.

Hickory looked over the ingredients. "Okay, he should be fine." They looked over at Nebula. "Do ask me before you eat anything else, though. There's a lot of fruits and vegetables that won't be good for you. You're a carnivore now, anyway."

Nebula nodded. The last thing he wanted was food poisoning, and one death was enough for him.

"Anything else ya think would be important to know before he goes and does dog things?" Because what else would Nebula do.

Hickory looked over at Nebula. "I'm not sure. I don't know what all you know . . ." He paused. "Well . . ."

He sighed, then took Nebula's face in his hands. "You're not going to like this. I know you're not going to like this. But dogs need to sleep for at least twelve hours a day."

Oh, that was . . . quite a long whine coming from him.

" Ah ." Wally nods in understanding at the phrasing and the whine. "Well, if ya want, I could stick around a bit to help...?" He's reaching based on what little he knows but he can understand not wanting to sleep based on nightmares.

Oh, Nebula was now pressing his head into Hickory. They sighed, running their fingers through the fur on the back of his neck. "It's okay. It'll be alright."

They looked up as Wally suggested sticking around. "If you'd like. That would be appreciated."

Nebula, however, let out another whine. Wild magic was more likely to flare out during nightmares, and more people meant more of a chance for it to hurt someone.

"Hey, you'll need an extra hand around since Nebula's got his paws tied." He tries to joke. Fortunately his scarf hides his mouth, so if he's smiling and it would be distasteful, it is unknown.

Pat pat the worried dog. "I'll be fine kid. Worst comes to worst I get a little burned! Nothing a little time can't fix."

Hickory chuckled and Nebula snorted at the joke.

There was another drawn out whine at even the mention of Wally getting burned, though. Especially since there were much worse things that could happen to him than burning.

"Kid," he crouches down just a little so he is face to face with Nebula, "I have lived a very long life. I doubt you can do much worse to me than anything I've already experienced."

Nebula looked down. It potentially not being worse didn't mean that it might not still hurt. He nudged his head against Wally this time, whining again, though it wasn't as long.

Pet pet the dog. "I will be fine. "

"Will it help if we're around while you fall asleep and then move away afterwards so we're not in any potential blast radius?"

Nebula hesitated, but then nodded. He could get the comfort without the potential harm that way.

"There ya go then! And we'll only come in range if ya need to be woken up, alright kid? No need ta worry."

He nodded again, though his tail was down. He hated nightmares.

"Bearer of bad news but, Ya might want to sleep soon though, ya've likely been awake since this morning, spent the afternoon walking across the city, and ya need more sleep than ya would've had. Also, ya look tired."

Nebula pulled away from Wally just to give him a look.

Hickory sighed. "He's right, you know."

That look was now trained on them.

Pat pat. "The sooner ya do it the faster it's over and done with!"

Not if he has to sleep for half the day! He huffed and walked away from them, sitting down huffily a little further away, refusing to sleep.

Hickory sighed. "He does this every time."

F in chat for Nebula because Wally is taller than him now. "Kid I will physically drag you to bed."

Oh. Oh that actually got a growl.

Well Nebula you are thoroughly unintimidating with that growl and Wally is moving to try and grab the dog. Bed time for puppers.

Nebula yelped at the grab, attempting to pull away, but his claws kept slipping on the hard floor beneath him.

Wally is now dragging a flailing dog.

Dog successfully grappled! Congratulations Nebula you are being dragged in a surprisingly secure grip. Has he had to do this before? It takes a bit because Wally is only a foot taller than a medium sized dog, but he drags Nebula all the way to his room and puts him down. "Bed."

Hickory followed, trying to hold back a somewhat amused smile.

Upon being put down, Nebula whipped around and growled back at him. It was an empty threat, though. Aside from wanting to avoid the nightmare itself, part of the reason he didn't want to do this was because he didn't want to hurt anyone. He would growl as threateningly as he could in an attempt to drive them away, but he wouldn't bite.

Wally does a little slightly growly noise back at Nebula. "We ain't leaving until ya get into bed and sleep."

Hickory sighed and sat down on Nebula's bed, patting the space next to him. "Come on. We'll be here with you the entire time."

Nebula didn't move, but he did whine, and his tail was tucked between his legs.

Pat pat dog. "We'll stay far enough away ya can't hurt us."

"Come here." Hickory started nudging him closer, and Nebula reluctantly followed, climbing up onto the bed with some . . . difficulty.

He laid down, but his ears were laid back, and he wasn't closing his eyes. He didn't exactly want to experience the nightmares themselves, either.

"Maybe we should try and find ya some kind of anti nightmare spell at some point... in the meantime though, maybe..."

He drifts off into a mumble as he takes off his hat and digs around in it, his whole arm getting submerged before he pulls out a hoop, wrapped in leather cord, with string coming from a couple of the sides and woven into a spider web or net-like pattern. There's some beads on the string, and feathers hanging down from the bottom, as well as a hoop from which to hang it at the top.

"A dreamcatcher ta help?"

Nebula lifted his head, and while his tail was still pressed close to his body, the tip of it did wag up and down. He didn't know how well it would work, but he definitely wanted to try.

"Hickory yer the tallest in the room yer gonna have to put it up. Got any hooks or anything?" He kind of. Looks around a bit trying to spot any. "Worst comes to worst we hang it off a bedpost."

"Here." Hickory took the dreamcatcher and hung it up on a lone screw in the wall.

"We'll be here with you the entire time, alright? And once you fall asleep we'll move out of range of any wild magic." They started petting Nebula, and scratching him where they knew dogs like to be scratched. He'd need to be calm to actually fall asleep.

Oh, oh wow. The scratching actually felt really good. He let out a bit of a sigh, starting to relax and lean into it. He still kept forcing his eyes open, though. He did not want to fall asleep.

"Yeah! And the dream catcher will catch nightmares before they come to ya!" Pet pet pet help the friend relax.

Even with all this, it took . . . a while for him to actually fall asleep. And when he did, Hickory sighed softly, running his hand over Nebula's head once more in worry. "He's already bad enough with avoiding sleep normally. And now, when he has to sleep more . . ." He was just . . . worried.

He huffs quietly. "That just means he'll fall asleep due to exhaustion sooner. The more sleep ya need, the harder it is to resist it." Then he pats Hickory's shoulder "come on, let's leave him to sleep from a safe distance."

Hickory nodded, very gently standing up so as not to disturb him. Once they were sure he hadn't awoken, they walked a safe distance away.

Chapter Text

Hickory sighed and turned towards Wally. "So how have you been? Aside from running into a dog version of Nebula."

'I've been good! Doin' the same old same old. How about you?" Same old same old means he's been halfway across einquell and back and gotten into at least some trouble.

"Also same old, really. Though it's always fun when Nebula comes back with some harmless magical side effect from work. Him being a dog himself is pretty funny, too, aside from trying to get him to sleep . . . Hopefully we'll be able to have a little bit of fun with it outside of potential nightmares."

He nods. "There's still twelve hours he doesn't need to sleep, we can find some fun for him then. Ya missed him trying to bite water to drink it."

Hickory let out a small laugh at that. "Did he? Oh, I'll have to teach him some things. Did he eventually figure out how, at least?"

"He seemed to! But ya might want to double check with him later ta make sure."

"I'll do that," they said, chuckling slightly. "This is all stuff I learned during my puppy years. We grow out of it when we start learning to walk on two legs, but he's a dog with a more traditional body plan, so he'll still need all that."

He nods "makes sense. Maybe teach him some dog language too so he can communicate a bit better?"

Dog language is possibly the worst descriptor for what he means.

Hickory blinked. "I'm . . . pretty sure he's gotten the dog language down instinctively."

Wally shrugs. "I don't know it so I can't tell."

"I think you need to learn some dog language then."

"Well dogs don't usually like me much so I've never really had the chance to learn."

"Really? Why not?"

"I pick up too many weird smells I think. Not really sure." Yeah paint doesn't smell the greatest.

"A lot of interesting smells usually draws dogs in. But I do have to admit the paint is quite strong."

"Yeahhh. Which usually deters 'em. Paint stinks unless yer used to it."

Hickory nodded, quiet for a moment. He trained his gaze back towards where Nebula was sleeping as he spoke. "I won't pry, but I'll admit it has me curious. You don't have to explain anything if you'd rather not." He definitely understood keeping secrets, what with being a necromancer and all.

"Ehh Spend enough time doing something and it leaves a mark." He shrugs and offers nothing else.

Hickory chuckled. "Well that makes me more curious." Probably something to do with painting a lot, though.

"I used to paint. Nothin' fancy! But people liked to have pictures of them or their loved ones back in the day, so it paid."

Hickory smiled softly. "That sounds wonderful."

He shrugged. "Hey, cameras didn't exist yet so there wasn't any other way to catch stuff like that."

They nudged him. "Don't downgrade it like that. Just because it was necessary to capture moments like that doesn't make it any less wonderful."

"I ain't downgradin' it! Yer just being more fanciful about it than it was! Travellin' paintin' is just another way people get by in the world, and it was a different perspective than whatever local artist was around. 'S not like I ever left einquell while I was doin' it, so there was plenty o' toons."

"Even with it being just another way to get by, you still did it, and I'm sure people appreciated it. I'm sure some might call my running a flower shop wonderful, even if it's technically just another way to get by in the world."

"Fair enough." He mostly says it just so Hickory would stop insisting with the little knowledge possessed. "Speaking of the flower shop, ya need any help closing up since we kinda interrupted it?"

"Oh, closing," they said with a sad chuckle. "I don't need it, but if you'd like to help then I wouldn't mind."

"Hey, it isn't like there's anything else to do."

"Suppose not." He stood up and started leading the way back downstairs. He looked back at Wally as he did so. "How long do you plan on staying?"

He makes a vague gesture. "I'll stay till the dog thing wears off or youse two figure things out enough ya don't need help with it, s' not like I ever have much in the way o' plans!" And then sticks his hands in his pockets.

Hickory smiled. "I appreciate that. Will you be staying here or just in town?"

"I mean, ya can't be awake all the time ta wake up Nebula from a nightmare. So it might be better fer me to stick around at least a little bit."

"Take shifts? That could work."

"And someone can stay with 'im while the shop is runnin' if he needs ta stretch his legs or somethin'."

Hickory nodded. "That sounds like a good plan. Hopefully this won't last long, though . . ." He continued closing up the shop, telling Wally what things he wanted him to do.

"Hopefully not, but in the meantime we deal with it as it is yeah?"

"Yeah. Hey, maybe we can get him to actually lighten up a bit, when he's not napping. He overworks himself."

"Well he can't exactly overwork himself as a dog now can he?"

"Oh believe me, he'll try."

"How will he do it? He doesn't have any hands!"

"He'll find some convoluted way. Trust me."

"What like learn to write with his mouth and take a bunch of notes?"

"Absolutely. And he can still do magic without hands so long as he has a paw on his arcane focus, so testing new spells won't be hard for him. Or he could use prestidigitation to make an illusion of whatever notes he might write and have someone copy them before the spell ends. Or he could read research papers on what other people are doing. He will find a way. He's very persistent about that."

"Wouldn't being a dog potentially taint the results of any new spells he tests though?" That's at least one thing he can point out. "And we can hide the research papers so he can't reach them!"

Hickory paused. "I'm not sure. I don't think it would? His magic surges would be more likely to taint it than being a dog would."

They chuckled at the second suggestion. "Sure, for the ones that he already has. But he can sneak new ones in with his hammerspace, and he'll be more interested in the new ones."

"Yeah, but we could point that out to discourage it because he's already under a spell effect!"

Wally nods thoughtfully. "Hmmm... good point. Maybe distract him with cards or something?"

"Distractions in general would be good I think. He's going to put up a fight about going to work like this, though . . ." They paused. "Can you keep an eye on him? I'm going to find one of his coworkers and ask if they've forbidden him from coming in until he's back to normal or not." If so, that'd definitely give them an edge.

Wally nods. "Sure can! So long as there ain't a nightmare he'll probably sleep til yer back anyways."

"Dogs tend to be light sleepers, so I'm not sure about that, but thank you."

"Well, I am very very quiet, so I doubt I'll wake him."

"Toon shenanigans outside might, though."

"Well, they can be persuaded otherwise against loud noises yeah?"

"Probably. Depends on the people, I suppose."

"All else fails, I can try an' convince him ta go back ta sleep."

"You can try." But good luck with that, with how long it took them to get him to sleep already. "Thank you for the help, though."

"And maybe I'll succeed!" Probably not. But hey, he can try!

"It's no problem, youse go get evidence that Nebula ain't supposed ta go back to work yeah?"

"Will do," Hickory replied, waving at him as they left the building.

Wally waves after him before silently slipping upstairs to check on Nebula.

Chapter Text

Nebula was thankfully still sleeping. Though it seemed he'd shifted positions. Hm, maybe he'd half woken up and fallen back asleep immediately afterwards. He was going to do that several times over the course of this sleep session, actually.

Ah at least he was sleeping though. Wally quietly checks around the house for anything that might disturb Nebula before settling down against one of Nebula's walls, almost stone still. Especially because his thick coat obscures some of the breathing motion while sitting. He's going to wait patiently until otherwise needed. A bit like a gargoyle really, though he's on a floor, not a roof or banister.

Throughout this time, there were a couple moments where Wally would be able to spot Nebula's feet twitching as he dreamed.

One of those times also came with some muffled whines.

Hopefully Wally would be able to perceive the charge of magic that was in the air, because he'd have to be careful to wake Nebula up without getting hit by the magic surge that was building up.

At the whines, Wally started shifting, quietly scurrying over to wake Nebula up from the throes of a nightmare. At the prickling of building magic in the air, he sticks close to the ground, out of sight, until he pokes his head up over the side of the bed and reaches over to gently touch the sleeping dog. He lets out a quiet "Shhh.." as he does so.

Whether or not this is an effective strategy against magic is unknown, but hey, he's trying at least?

Nebula's reaction was delayed. The touch didn't seem to do much at first, but a moment later he startled awake, shaking, ears flat across his head. He stumbled back in an awkward, somewhat humanoid manner, forgetting for a moment that he was a dog and attempting to move like he normally would. Really it only resulted in him flopping back over onto his side.

. . . Nothing magical seemed to have happened, though? But all the magic that had been building in the air was gone now.

Wally stiffened at the movement, pulling back a bit like a naughty creature caught in the act, ready to pull back to try and avoid any sudden magic. And then Nebula falls over and the magic in the air is gone and he perches himself casually on the edge of the bed, leaning his arms over the edge as he stifles a chuckle and asks

"Youse alright kid?"

No. No, he was not alright. He whined - well, no, that wasn't quite right. He tried to whine. Instead, though, pink bubbles came out of his mouth.

Nebula blinked several times, watching them float away and pop, thoroughly distracted by whatever he'd been dreaming about. Uh . . . What?

Wally sticks a hand over where his mouth would be under the scarf, doing his damnedest to not laugh. "I'd ask if ya wanna talk about it but it seems yer otherwise occupied."

He pokes one of the bubbles, popping it. "Seems ya didn't need to be worried about yer magic this time at least!"

Nebula was still thoroughly befuddled. He knew what it came from, of course, but this was not something he was expecting.

He tried whining once more, and again bubbles came from his mouth. Then he tried barking, and not only were there bubbles, but there were quite a lot of them. Maybe it depended on how loud it was, or how much effort it took to make the noise he wanted to make?

Well, he was thoroughly distracted now. Testing the bubbles. He ruffled through his neck fluff and pulled out a small notebook. He was able to flip the cover open, but getting to the specific page he'd last written in would be difficult.

Wally would be able to see that the first page had Firebolt written in it, though. Along with the date the three of them had met, the circumstances behind its appearance, and the effect it had. Aka nightmare and Wally getting knocked out of his tree.

There were a couple other magical effects on that page, too, with similarly organized comments.

Wally watches Nebula test out the bubbles, popping any that stray just a tad too close to him. And the fetching of the notebook, which, he assumes, based on the first page, was to write down occurrences such as these. But books are hard to navigate with paws, so, he offers 

"Need a hand?"

Nebula dipped his head, ashamed, with an involuntary whine-turned-to-bubbles.

He makes a little grabby hand as the other rifles around in his coat. "Give it here, I'll write things down for ya."

He grabs the book and starts flicking through the pages, not paying attention to the information on them as he tries to find a pencil that's actually sharpened within his pockets

Nebula laid down after Wally took the book, resting his head between his paws and watching as his friend looked for a pencil. The events of the nightmare were coming back to him, and his ears had gone back again.

He fishes out a pencil (finally) and starts noting down what happened, loosely based on what he saw on the first page. And his handwriting is. Well. It sure is.

"D'ya remember yer nightmare?"

Nebula gave as best a shrug he could in this form. Bits and pieces, but that was really it. Not like he could talk about it anyway. For multiple reasons.

"A more usual one or nah?" He keeps up the conversation even as he writes, and well, Nebula might want to rewrite these notes later because they definitely aren't neat . But they aren't completely illegible.

Nebula gave Wally a look and spat more bubbles. He couldn't exactly say which one it was very easily.

"Nod once for yes, twice for no. Double positives make a negative!"

Nebula blinked. What? That was the other way around. Double negatives make a positive. Double positives are still positive. He snorted a little. Bubbles came out of his nose, which was incredibly uncomfortable, and he rubbed his nose between his paws before sneezing.

Uh . . . What was the question again?

"Whaaat? That's how it works ain't it?" Unfortunately (for this situation) Wally cannot read minds and does not know that Nebula missed the question.

Nebula shook his head. That absolutely wasn't how it worked.

"Are you sure?" At this point he has to be playing dumb. He's not that stupid.

Well now he's just nudging Wally with his nose.

He huffs and pets Nebula, rubbing his head like one might a friend's hair in a friendly tousle. "Well either way it's still a system 'o communication yeah?"

Nebula shifted back away, tail slowly wagging a couple times, before nodding. It did still work as a system of communication. He still didn't remember the question, though.

"Ya feelin' better now then?" Not the question that was asked but a question all the same. "Or should we get'cha somethin' ta eat?"

That was a shrug to both questions. In fact, he laid his head down pressed beside Wally's leg. He still wasn't quite fully recovered yet.

Ah, that smell of paint was overwhelming.

Wally pets him some more, shifting the notes so Nebula can look at them. "Have ya tried poppin' bubbles?"

Oh, he was definitely going to have to rewrite that all later.

He paused at Wally's question, then blew out some bubbles and popped one with his nose.

Oh definitely. At least it's written down, though?

Wally pops another bubble and gives Nebula a smile "Ain't it fun?"

Nebula stared at Wally for three long seconds.

Then he barked a ton of bubbles straight into his face.

Wally sputters and cackles at the stream of bubbles suddenly in his face, waving a hand in front of his face "ack! Ya got me!"

Oh that tail was wagging pretty quickly now, along with a happily panting mouth. He barked some more bubbles into his face, shifting closer as he did and nudging Wally's hat a bit.

Oh? So that wasn't actually a part of his design? Already in a playful mood now, Nebula grabbed the hat and pulled it off, immediately darting away with it.

He paused in the doorway to look back and make sure Wally was following, though.

Wally's laughter breaks off into a "Hey!" At his hat being stolen. It tastes the same as his sleeve. "Come back here with that!" A feigned annoyance as he scrambles to dart after Nebula, chasing his hat.

He's got two little poofs of hair, or maybe they're ears? Possibly something else entirely really. On the top of his head, and they shift with his movement as he's ready to chase.

As soon as he saw Wally starting to chase, Nebula darted off, making circles around the apartment, hiding behind furniture, keeping out of reach as much as possible to avoid Wally.

He might have to corner him to get his hat back.

Unfortunately for Nebula's hat stealing goals, Wally is not much bigger than him and can follow him under furniture and has the practice to do it. There's a few times where he alllmost gets Nebula, but misses just before, or Nebula has a chance to wriggle away. It's a thrilling game of keepaway for both involved!

Nebula has been thoroughly distracted from the nightmare, and this game goes on for quite a while before Wally eventually gets a good grip on that hat. And once that happens, Nebula lets go so as not to risk tearing it. He wasn't so caught up in playing keep away that he didn't take care of what he was keeping away, after all.

He's looking much happier than he was previously.

When Wally finally DOES grab the hat, he ends up face first on the floor. But he's laughing, and he reaches out to give Nebula a couple pats from on the floor before peeling himself off it into a sitting position. He puts his hat on, tweaking it a couple times. "You did pretty good kid!"

Nebula nudged him playfully, tail still wagging, and made a small boof noise. Oh, no bubbles anymore.

"Oh! Lookit that yer outta bubbles!" Hmmmm... "We could pick up some bubble mix though if ya want!"

Nebula shook his head, amused. He didn't need more bubbles, though they were fun while they lasted.

"Fair ‘nough! We should probably get'cha some more water though."

Oh, that got a grateful nod. He was thirsty after all that running. It was . . . odd. Again, he knew what it was, so he'd probably felt it pre-death, but he'd never felt this way as long as he remembered.

He pushes himself off the floor with a little "oompf" that comes with having lived a long life and starts heading over to the kitchen to grab Nebula some water. He might need to climb on a counter to grab a bowl but hey, he can just wipe the counters off afterwards!

Nebula looked up at the counter, then back at Wally, then back at the counter. Well, might as well make it easier for him. He shifted himself alongside the counter and tossed his head back, offering for Wally to use him to climb up.

He wouldn't weigh that much, right? He'd picked him up without trouble before.

"Kid, it is frankly easier for me to climb onto the counter on my own. It's a nice thought, though." This man knows not of 'stools' apparently.

Nebula looked up at the counter and then back at Wally skeptically. Well, if it'd be too hard to climb a dog . . .

He left and came back dragging a chair over.

In the time it takes for a dog to drag a chair over (a decent chunk because they are small and don't have hands) Wally climbs up on the counter to prove a point and fetch a bowl.

Nebula blinked when he came back and saw Wally already on the counter. He barked. He'd been trying to help.

"I told ya! It's easier!" He closes the cabinet, sets the bowl down, and hops off the counter with practiced ease, before moving to fill the bowl.

He huffed, turning around and sitting next to the chair, his back to Wally. Annoyed. 

He'd wanted to help! There was only so much he could do in this form . . .

"Aww... don't be like that kid!" He's barely tall enough to use the sink. But he's practiced in such things so he manages. It helps that his coat is waterproof. "Some stuff is just easier ta do on yer own once yer good at it!"

Well now he's lying down. His head is under the chair.

Wally walks over and places the bowl near the sulking dog. "Now you'll be really good at grabbing things from the bottom cupboards fer Hickory!"

Nebula huffed, turning his head away from him. While it remained on the floor, his eyes glanced towards the bowl of water before looking away again. He was thirsty, but he was sulking too much to even attempt to drink right now.

Wally walked over and crouched to poke Nebula "Hey"

"If you don't drink the water I will tell Hickory"

Nebula rolled his eyes at that, deigning not to respond.

Another poke "Then you will have Hickory on your case about not drinking water."

Nebula huffed. He'd drink it eventually! Just not now.

"Fine. I'm putting the chair back though." Not that he'll be much more effective at moving it

Well, he conceded that at least, moving his head out from underneath it so it wouldn't be in the way.

Wally does his best to not knock Nebula as he puts the chair back. Then comes back and sits next to Nebula, quiet for a bit.

"If ya can still cast wild magic d'ya think youse can still cast regular spells?"

Nebula paused, finally lifting his head up. He took his arcane focus out and look down at it, consider what spell he should attempt to cast.

"Maybe try casting something small, so it's smaller if there's feedback or somethin' yeah?"

He placed his paw down on the flower, considering, before deciding on casting Detect Magic. His pupils shown purple as he did. And maybe now he'd be able to tell if Wally had prestidigitation on him or not . . .

Aside from the magical objects that he already knew existed in this room, there was a faint, old, aura around Wally that he couldn't even figure out the type of magic for. That couldn't be from any current spell that had been cast. And then there was that bracelet, which seemed to be abjuration.

Nebula tilted his head. If Wally's scent hadn't been magically altered, then why did he smell so much like paint and not at all like ink?

Wally watches quietly as Nebula does the spellwork, shifting slightly where he sat. After a couple moments he asks "So uhh... Did whatever ya did work?"

Well, Wally was an old toon with many tales, perhaps the slight buzz of magic around him had something to do with a daring escape or something of the sort. Honestly if it weren't for how odd it were, it might strike as if he were a sorcerer or something. But he never seemed magically inclined any.

Nebula blinked several times at the question, the purple in his eyes fading as he did. He nodded, then tilted his head, trying to figure out how to communicate what he'd done. But hey, he knew prestidigitation.

He made a small illusion that simply said the words Detect Magic.

"Well now ya know you can use your magic to help!" He's cheery, and then looks a little awkward and holds up the wrist with the bracelet "I guess ya know about this then?"

Nebula nodded and tilted his head curiously.

"It's nothin' major. A minor protection spell 's all." It seemed a lot stronger than that. "A friend gave it to me for peace of mind. Barely a trifle yeah? Nothing to worry about." He wears it awfully tight around his wrist for such a supposedly minor thing.

Nebula gave him a look. That wasn't minor magic.

"What? It's not important!" He insists.

The illusions prestidigitation provided were only small, palmed sized things, so he had to shorten his message to the bare bones needed to understand so it could still be readable. 

Too strong for minor.

He huffed "Minor has different meanings in different contexts kid. It does one specific thing, even if ya think it has a lot of magic behind it."

I study magic.

"Yeah, but how d'ya know yer spell was workin' right?"

All else was same.

Everything else detect magic had picked up hadn't been any different than what it usually picked up from them.

"Don't ya need ta check all the variables for it though?"

You're avoiding.

"No I'm not." He just doesn't like talking about it. He thought it would be a simple explanation and move on.

Nebula huffed into his face, but left it be.

He was suspicious now, though.

Wally huffed back, grumbling a "Drink yer water."

Nebula stood - it was easier for him to try to drink the way he'd watched that dog drink that way - and started lapping at the water.

He glanced back at Wally as he drank. At the bracelet. Was it the cause of the paint smell? Was something or someone potentially after Wally that was repelled by the smell of paint?

He turned his gaze back to the water and, without looking, sent up another small illusion.

You smell like paint.

Wally was staring at the floor, having, for a rare occasion, pulled down the bracelet to fidget with, running it around his wrist in circles. (Still too tight to come off on accident.)

"Yeah?"

Nebula glanced up to see his reaction, then paused, and lifted his head from the bowl. That wasn't usual Wally behavior.

Concerned, he stepped forward and placed his head onto his shoulder in an attempt to comfort.

Are you okay?

Wally stiffened at the touch, just a little, and plastered his usual cheerful expression(or as much as could be with only a view of his eyes) and tone of voice on. He shoves the bracelet back up his sleeve.

"I'm fine!" Smile and pat the dog.

Nebula pulled away, eyes filled with concern. He had to separate this one out into two illusions, one following the other, but . . .

I WILL cast-

-Zone of Truth on you.

"No you won't. Pretty sure in some places that's illegal actually! I don't know about Toontown though." He seems decently cheerful and certain about this. But that might just be in his ability to escape.

Okay, fine, he called his bluff. He didn't even know how to, anyway. But he was concerned.

He gave Wally the best puppy eyes he could manage.

Please.

Don't hide.

"I ain't hiding? I'm right here. Sitting on the floor. Next to you." He sounds vaguely confused at the insinuation he'd be hiding at all really.

Nebula rolled his eyes.

Hiding emotionally.

You were fidgeting.

You froze.

And you covered it up.

You don't have to do that.

"I have no idea what you're talking about." And he's still got that absolutely befuddled expression. I don't think he knows what emotionally hiding means. Somehow. Gods you would not believe how old this man is.

He starts listing on his fingers. "I ain't hiding, I fiddle with things ta keep my hands busy, I don't expect touches all the time unlike some people, and I ain't covering anything up. Well unless ya count what's under my hat."

And he lifts up his hat to reveal a rubber duck, before putting it back down on his head.

Nebula looked him over with a scrutinizing gaze. He . . . seemed okay now? But he definitely hadn't been.

But you weren't fine before.

The bracelet isn't-

-a usual fidget.

"We were talkin' about it! Youse were curious so I told ya about it. Therefore it was on the mind." Pause "An' if yer talkin' bout earlier, would ya have believed me if I said I was fine while still lookin' like I was thinkin'?"

I wouldn't believe you-

-if your countenance-

-drastically changed-

-the moment I asked.

Which was exactly what had happened. Wally saying I'm fine while looking like he did previously would have resulted in an are you sure? Drastically changing like that made it seem like he was covering up and therefore definitely not okay.

"Yeah yeah I messed it up a little. It happens!" He waves a hand dismissively. "Trust me, if I say I'm fine, I'm probably fine. I don't need ya bleedin' yer heart on me."

Messed up what?

He was still worried.

"Actually conveying how I feel?" He seems confused that Nebula didn't realize it.

Oh. He looked down, embarrassed at the misunderstanding. 

Sorr-  

But the moment the spell was cast, a wave of magic burst out from him in the form of seven glowing shards. A large amount of which hit Wally point-blank.

Wally doesn't have time to react before he feels like he's been slammed hard in the gut, smacking into the wall and peeling off like a piece of paper, obviously roughed up and a bit cross-eyed from the sudden impact. He's too shocked to let out more than a little wheeze.

Nebula took a step back with a startled yelp, frozen in shock. No. No. No no no no no no NO!

No, this, this wasn't supposed to happen! He was using a cantrip! Prestidigitation was a cantrip! Magic surges didn't happen with cantrips!

And then he was gone. Out the room, down the stairs, out the building, streaking along the sidewalk and roads.

No, why, what happened? How did that happen? Was he using it too much? Did the frequency of using it build up enough magic to surge out? That . . . That . . . No!

For, for all he knew he might have just killed Wally. Left him alone to bleed out on the floor. What kind of person was he?

He was dangerous. He couldn't be trusted. From the very, from the very beginning, he'd hurt his friends, and he hurt them again, and he was always going to hurt them. It'd be better for him to just stay far away from them. They didn't need him, and he kept hurting everyone. Nothing good was going to come from him staying there.

Eventually he ran out of breath, so he looked for a place to hide instead. He slipped into an alleyway and, though it was a tight fit, managed to squeeze himself underneath a dumpster, where he shouldn't be able to be seen.

If dogs could cry, he'd be sobbing right now. As it was, he was whining softly, his ears flat across his head, his tail tucked deep between his legs, and his body shaking like a leaf.

He could only allow himself a couple minutes of whimpering. He didn't want to be found, after all, and though he wasn't visible, while he was whining he'd be able to be heard.

Wally had pushed himself up with a small groan just in time to see Nebula's tail disappearing out the door. How'd he even open the door? He let out an inaudible "shit" as he let himself flop down on the floor and be in pain for a little longer. I don't think anyone expects suddenly losing over half their health to that much magic damage.

Especially in a situation like this.

He lets himself lie there for a little bit with the wind knocked out of him because there's no way he's catching up now. Best bet is recovering a little then looking. He knows how to spot the places a dog can hide at least.

Chapter Text

It was a few minutes after Wally flopped to the floor that Hickory came in, and upon seeing his friend in such a state, rushed forward to help. "Wally? Wally are you alright? What happened?"

Wally peeled himself off the ground, much like one would a piece of paper, with a small groan to look up at Hickory. His words are a bit funny as he speaks, a bit quiet maybe, but he's talking. "Nebula figured out talking with magic and we were talking and then the buildup or somethin' from it turned wild and slammed me and the kid ran. Dunno where, feels like I got ran over by a truck honestly, that wasn't a fun time. So I wasn't able ta follow him immediately."

Well that immediately filled Hickory with concern. They took Wally's shoulders as he stood up. "Here." Agh, they didn't have any healing potions on them . . .

Well, it would hurt, but . . .

They closed their eyes, purple light shining from the cracks between their hands and Wally, and winced. Half a second later, his wounds were all healed, with no pain whatsoever. "There you go. Let's go find him."

Wally twitched back at the spell; It's a very odd thing, to go from feeling like you got run over by truck to being without pain. He wiggled in place a little, twitching, quite confused, before Hickory reminded him of Nebula being missing. He gives a firm nod. "You look high I'll look low. I don't think he'd be in the house if he could open the door, too easy to find."

Hickory nodded, standing up and rushing outside, calling out for the dog.

Wally follows him, peeking down alleys and into odd spaces. Anywhere a dog could reasonably hide. Quietly because he's fairly certain Nebula does not want to be found.

Unfortunately neither of them were having much luck finding Nebula. Hickory muttered something about how horrible he must feel to have run away like this.

Wally nods in agreement. Then, slightly jokingly, suggests maybe they need to make lost dog posters.

.

Meanwhile though, someone headin' down the alley on their way hears some whimpering and starts lookin' around, finally peering under the dumpster. "What're you doing down there?"

Nebula instantly silenced himself when he saw the person peeking under. Oh, oh stars, he was already found. Thank the stars not by Wally or Hickory but he didn't want to be found by anyone at all right now. Especially not in this state.

No one should be near him, anyway.

He pressed further back until he was up against the wall beneath the dumpster.

The person, a reelkind in a leather jacket with a bandana and sunglasses, peers under the dumpster a little more. "Hey, it's alright, I'm not gonna hurt you little guy. Are you stuck? Lets get you out of there."

The man stands up to try and shift the dumpster.

Nebula hesitated, but pressed up even further as his hiding place started shifting. No no no!

If it got to where it no longer protected him, he was going to bolt.

The way the man is shoving the dumpster prevents the back from opening up, instead actually closing up the back path. He only shoves it wide enough for him to reach in and try to grab the dog.

Nebula scrambled, panicking. The man did manage to get ahold of his leg, but he pulled free, jumping over him and darting off.

The man gets bowled over, but, he has some friends that couldn't be seen from the hiding place. One of them ready with a snare-loop-stick-thing. It's rope tightens around Nebula's neck as he runs right into it.

Nebula yelped as he got caught, not expecting either the sudden stop nor the short choke. But it did good at stopping him. It did not, however, stop him from trying to get it off.

He was growling and barking a lot at them as he attempted to wiggle out, trying to be as threatening as possible, because it was obvious they did not have good intentions in mind.

This was the second time he'd been caught without his arcane focus. He was terrified.

The person who caught him slid the thing down to lock the loop, and the man who shoved the dumpster gave a sharp grin, any previous potential kindness lost. "Good. It's a fighter, it'll do well." And signaled to his other companion.

The other companion has... something. It smells funny. And they're bringing it closer.

What did that mean what did that mean? Nebula didn't have much time to think about it, though, because despite his attempts to avoid whatever they were bringing closer, they forced him still. He felt his mind going fuzzy, and then he blacked out.

When Nebula next awakens, he's in a cage. A cage in a small room full of cages and full of dogs. Some of them uninjured, but most with some kind of injury or scarring on them. Many of them look fierce, big dogs. A lot of them look sad though. Some are whining. Some are muzzled. 

Nebula backed up into the corner of his cage, terrified. This was bad this was bad this was bad this was bad.

He needed out of here. He needed out.

He didn't have his arcane focus, though. He had some spells that might not need it, assuming barking worked for the verbal components, but he was not going to risk another magic surge in a small enclosed space around a whole lot of dogs. Especially not after what . . . what he just did to Wally.

There's a door out of the room, but it's closed. And it seems like it's been closed for a while. Though, there's noises outside it. People.

Nebula was very hesitant about those noises. They were likely from the people who put him in here. Was that the only way out?

Maybe he should wait before he tried to break out. He didn't want to make noise and draw them in.

It's indistinct, but occasionally with lulls in voices there's shifting and clattering of metal items. Like someone setting up a fence.

That didn't sound good. That really didn't sound good.

He looked around at the dogs around him. Would any of them be able to help? If they could escape they probably would have already . . .

He whined softly.

As time passes there starts to be sounds of more people as the sounds of preparations made.

. . . Well, maybe more sounds meant less likely chance for people to hear him?

He was getting increasingly panicky, and started trying to bang himself against the cage door in hopes of breaking out.

All he really managed was to make his side sore.

The cage shifts a little in the pile, but it's more than just stacked to stay up. One of the other dogs in the room gives him an annoyed look. And the bars hurt to slam into.

It'll take more than brute strength to escape.

Nebula retreated back to the corner of the cage, terrified and whimpering softly. And there he was going to stay.

After a while, the doorknob turns, and the door opens. A stern looking toon walking in.

Nebula is staring at this toon intensely, furiously. But other than that stays silent.

The toon looks around a bit, and some of the more scared looking dogs, the ones with wounds and scars, shy away a bit in their cages. She seems to decide on something and takes one of the more fierce looking dog's cage. As well as one of the unscarred, scared, dogs. And leaves the room with them.

None of this boded well. None of it at all.

He was a dog now, though. Could he communicate with the other dogs?

He turned to look at the one in the cage next to him, sticking his nose through and sniffing a little. He made a small noise to try and get their attention.

The dog, that was lying on the floor of its cage, huffs and looks over, shifting its head to give Nebula a vaguely annoyed look.

Nebula paused. He had some snacks in his hammerspace, and these dogs looked starving.

He ruffled into his neck fluff and pulled out some chips, pushing them through the bars of the cage. There was a gap between the cages, so he had to stretch the way only a toon can to snake his paw over, chips balanced atop, to offer them.

It wasn't good dog food, but it was something.

The dog Nebula was trying to talk to looked surprised and confused, letting out a very quiet boof of confusion.

Nebula dropped the chips on the floor of the cage and snaked his paw back. He looked at the dog, then the chips, then the dog again. Were they going to eat?

Hey, the dog isn't going to pass up food, it shifts and stands, moving to more comfortably eat the chips, crunching down on them like it hasn't eaten in a while.

Some of the other dogs look on in jealousy. There's no food in any of the cages.

Well he does try to offer food to as many as possible. He only has so much, though, and sometimes they fall between the gaps.

Unfortunately he can only really reach two of the dogs, the ones directly next to him. But they are both obviously grateful, despite neither speaking.

When he ran out of food, he huddled up by the toon dog. "What's going on?" he asked in a low whisper.

The toon dog glanced to the door before quietly whispering back, voice barely a whimper, "Fighting ring. For the people folk's amusement."

Nebula let out a quiet whine, curling into himself a little. He could die here. They all would.

They gave a sympathetic grimace. It's not a fun idea. He does say a quiet "thanks for the food" though. Just before the doorknob rattles and the door opens, the stern toon from earlier coming to grab a couple more dogs. She's looking around a bit.

Rather than glare at her this time, Nebula backed into the corner of his cage, shrinking down as much as possible. He wanted nothing to do with any of this.

Fortunately she doesn't pick Nebula. She does however, grab two more dogs. Ones that look like they had been in a fight before. As well as a roll of tape. And then she leaves the room.

There's more sounds of people outside.

". . . What's the tape for?" he asked, almost silent. He was still tense, but grateful he hadn't been chosen.

"Bad things." The dogs in the room do not like the tape

He let out a small whine.

The toon dog nods with a frown, and goes back to sitting in it's cage. Letting time pass as there's growling outside.

Ohhh, none of this sounded good. Stars, he still didn't think Hickory and Wally should be around him but stars did he want them to be. Not only would he not be alone here, but they'd be able to do something without risking hurting everyone around them.

He couldn't get out through brute strength. Maybe he could try something else?

Nebula crept forward in his cage, looking over the lock to see if there was anything he could do to unlock it.

It sure is a lock! Just a regular ol' padlock. But two things: Nebula does not have the dexterity to use a lockpick or lockpick equivalent. And he does not HAVE a lockpick or lockpick equivalent.

Well, that and he doesn't know how to lockpick.

Many issues in that path. Maybe if he had a spell or a key he could unlock it, but he most certainly does not.

He very much does not.

He was going to be stuck here, wasn't he?

Maybe . . . Maybe he'd be able to escape whenever they came to take him?

Perhaps! But the question is: will they take him tonight? Or will he have to wait? The doorknob rattles again.

Nebula had laid back down in the back of his cage, and though he kept his head on the ground, his eyes raised up when he heard the noise.

The stern toon is back with two of the dogs they took, grumpy and growling just a little. There's a new tear in one of them's ears. And she's putting them back in place.

She's looking around the room to grab one more dog

His ears immediately went back again. That really didn't bode well. But, well, it was a dog fighting ring. Of course it didn't.

Stars.

He shrank further into the back of his cage. Both to try to avoid detection, and to already have his legs in a good position to spring if his cage was the one to be opened.

Hmm hmm hmm which dog to take…

The stern toon approaches Nebula's cage, grabbing it and tucking it under her arm, carrying him out of the room.

Oh no oh no oh no oh no. He whimpered, glancing back towards the dog he'd been talking to in a plea for help.

The dog had turned its head away, there is nothing it can do to help.

Outside the room has chairs and a ring, set up so that the dogs can be released into it directly from their cages so long as they're unlocked first. There's metal fencing for the ring. Sturdy, but temporary, something whoever runs this show takes down and sets up, so that they're less likely to be caught.

The stern toon puts his cage down on a table. Moving to grab some keys and the tape that is lying on the table.

There's blood in the ring.

Nebula was terrified. He was about to be released into an arena with a dog trained to fight, to injure, to kill, and he didn't have his arcane focus, and if he used the spells that could be cast with just speech and movement, he could still very well hurt others, and what good would he be for then, anyway?

He couldn't do this. He couldn't.

Why was this happening?

The lady comes back with the keys, placing one of her gloved hands on the cage door as she unlocks the padlock, pulling it off and putting it to the side, grabbing the tape and slinging it over her wrist. She opens the door and roughly grabs the dog, securely holding his head down as she tapes his snout with one hand.

Nebula attempted to bolt as soon as the door was open, but he yelped as he was immediately caught. He struggled as much as he possibly could while she was taping his snout, but only managed to wrench himself out of her grasp once she'd finished.

And in an instant Nebula was running straight off the table and across the floor in a streak of black and white, rushing towards the nearest exit he could find.

The stern lady lets out a shout, surprised by the dog's strength. She whirls around to try and chase after the escaped dog with a growl and some spouted grawlix.

There's a few doors out of the room, one that leads to the dog room, and two others. One of which is slightly ajar, probably unnoticed by whoever was closing it when it didn't close properly.

He probably wasn't going to be able to get through the closed door and he definitely wasn't going back to the room he came from, so through the partially open one it was!

A hallway! Containing a potted plant, and what looks like a closed built-in concession stand. As well as some tables and chairs. With a couple people in who are looking at the door confusedly, not yet realizing that a dog has come through

And streaking through he goes, paying the people no mind, once more looking for an exit.

Hmm! That door looks a bit rickety, maybe he can slam through it? Oh but wait what's that? Behind the plant is an open vent? Choices choices.

The lady slams open the door not long after, shouting at the two people. "GET THAT DOG!" To which they scramble to obey, knocking over the table and also knocking into each other in a rather silly fashion.

Nebula ended up going for the vent. It'd be a tight fit and slow him down but hopefully his pursuers wouldn't be able to follow him there.

The lady toon swore as he went in, getting down and trying to reach for the dog. But it's a straight shot just out of reach of her.

However, after that there's a turn-off.

Nebula crawled through the vents, trying his best to navigate his way through them. And he found the way out! It was pretty high up, though, so when he shuffled out of it, he didn't land quite right. Snout still taped, his yelp was muffled as pain shot through his leg.

He laid there for a moment whimpering, then trying unsuccessfully to get the tape off.

He . . . He needed to get out of here. He needed to get away from this place.

Nebula stood up, still whimpering as he tried to put as little weight as possible on his injured leg, and started limping off to find some place he could shelter during the night.

He didn't sleep well that night. Not from nightmares this time, but from the pain, from trying to take the tape off, from stress, from hunger. But he'd learned from last time not to make any noise.

He stayed in his hiding place until late afternoon of the next day, when his thirst and hunger overtook his fear, and he left to try to find something he might be able to fit between his closed teeth.

Chapter Text

Well, it's definitely a town that Nebula has found himself in. But it's also not Toontown . It seems to be a little more populated with reelkind, just based on what people seem to be walking around, though that just might be this area or whose not working at the time. It's not all that busy, but the people that are out and about aren't looking down much and not noticing a dog.

Well, except for a scarecrow toon, on the quite tall side for a toon, who's walking down the side of the road, grumbling something about making a trip and whatever they needed not being had. Hands in their patch-pockets as they look down and the occasional ember seems to escape their mouth.

Their gaze does wander as they stare at the ground though, and it catches on Nebula briefly, making them do a double-take with a sympathetic look and shift their route to subtly head over to the dog, trying not to scare the poor thing.

Nebula didn't even notice them at first, too focused on the puddle he'd just found. Normally he wouldn't drink out of puddles in the ground, but at this point he was desperate. He dipped the tip of his snout into it and tried to suck water through his teeth.

They stopped a bit away from the puddle and got down on one knee, hands up non-threateningly. They're just out of grabbing range as they speak up, voice soft. "Hey little guy, are you okay?"

Nebula jumped, startled at being spoken to. He backed up against the wall, looking this way and that for others that might be involved.

Last time someone asked if he was alright they kidnapped him and brought him to a dog fighting ring.

Nobody else seems to be around. Or at least not paying attention, they're all just walking by. The scarecrow frowns at the state of Nebula, taking in the limp and the tape.

"Hey- hey- it's alright, I won't hurt you. Scouts honour. Can I take the tape off your mouth? I've got some food you can have."

There's a slight drawl to their voice. A bit of an accent. But not too much.

Nebula was hesitant, but . . . they seemed genuine, and, well . . . he wasn't going to be able to survive like this without some sort of help.

It was slow, careful, and with tension in his body, ready to bolt at any moment of potential betrayal, but the dog did start limping closer.

They let him come as close as he's comfortable with, then carefully reach out and take either side of the tape, and rip it off. Which hurts a little bit because it's tape but it's off a lot faster than if it was unwound. It is however slightly terrifying how easily they do it. Though I suppose having straw for fingers lets them slip them under the tape more easily than most.

They back up and put the ripped tape in a pocket, no sense in littering, before pulling out some food. Some Jerky actually. A good travel food. They hold it out to Nebula, offering it.

Nebula whimpered as it was taken off, but was incredibly grateful for it. He pretty immediately opened his mouth wide to stretch it. Thank the stars.

And hey, if they were taking the tape off, they probably weren't anyone who'd want to be putting it back on.

The scarecrow had earned his trust, even more so with the food, and he instantly scarfed the jerky down. And then started sniffing them down for more.

Huh. They seemed a bit familiar, but he couldn't quite place where . . .

They chuckle and pull out some more for him to eat before digging in their pockets again. "Now, I should have a health potion here somewhere for your leg..."

They pull out the health potion and look it over to double check it's a health potion. "Okay, I should check yer leg first to make sure it doesn't heal wrong, is that alright?”

Hmmm... didn't Wally know a tall scarecrow toon?

Nebula was quick to eat the jerky, but his head shot up at the mention of a health potion, and he was back to sniffing. Yes yes please he wanted the health potion, he could hardly put any weight on that leg.

. . . Yes, yes that was right! This was the person Wally had mentioned that could help with curses!

Knowing that, knowing that this was definitely a friendly face that wouldn't harm him, Nebula was a lot less hesitant, and nodded to let him look at his leg unhindered.

He was still tense, though. He was expecting to have an injured part of his body touched, and he was expecting it to hurt.

They give him a stitched smile and get up, moving around so they can look over his leg with careful hands. After a moment, they pull away. "It doesn't seem broken, just sprained. I'll tip the potion into your mouth okay?"

They uncork the vial for when Nebula agrees.

Nebula did in fact agree, though how much would end up actually going down rather than spilling out was another question entirely. He wasn't used to this anatomy. He wasn't used to the opening of his mouth being so big.

It . . . oddly didn't seem to go that badly. Not much spilled and he definitely got enough to heal his leg.

He tested it out carefully, and when there wasn't any pain, danced around in a bit of a circle. Thank the stars.

His tail was wagging quite a bit now. And that potion had helped with a little bit of his thirst, though he still definitely needed more. He looked at the puddle, then back at the scarecrow. Did they have any clean water?

It probably helps they're used to helping animals drink. Hey, ya work with curses and potions, you meet a lot of people who accidentally got themselves stuck as animals. They grin at his happy little trot, putting away the vial.

"You probably need some water too huh? Lets see what I've got..." It takes some digging in their hammerspace, but they pull out a canteen and a bowl, putting the bowl down and pouring water into it.

They take a swig from the canteen themself before putting it away. They then look over Nebula as he drinks, mumbling "no collar, so no tags..." then they blink, and their eyes seem to glow a little bit(though it's hard to tell in the broad daylight, their eyes turning from white with black pupils to a yellow colour, looking over the dog for any potential traces of magic.

Even aside from the daylight, Nebula never would have even noticed the color change - he was far too busy drinking from the bowl of water, and he finished it off quite quickly.

There were definitely strong traces of magic on this dog, and they were definitely from the school of transmutation.

They let out a thoughtful hum at that, the yellow fading from their eyes. "How'd you end up like this buddy? Transfigured into a dog and all?"

Nebula looked up at that, startled. How did they know that?

They give a slightly apologetic smile at startling him. "Detect magic, easiest way to tell when something magical is up. Was it intentional by whoever cast it?"

Oh. That'd certainly help, yes.

Nebula shook his head, then put his paw to his chest the way only toon dogs could do. He was the one who'd cast it, and it backfired on him.

"I take it you cast it then? Accidental spell? Hmm..." they think for a bit "You know if it's a time limit or permanent?"

Nebula nodded. Ah, how was he supposed to answer that though . . . Ah! There was a clock tower in the distance! He pointed his nose at it to specify time.

Once the scarecrow had looked where he was pointing, Nebula went ruffling through his fluff for a bit before eventually pulling one of the business cards that Wally gave him - one that had Straa Kroh's picture on it - out. He placed it on the ground at his feet and looked at the scarecrow inquisitively, head tilted.

They nod in understanding. "Do ya know how long?"

The toon looked back to Nebula and let out a little surprised noise at the business card. "Oh! You've met Wally then? I think he's the only person who actually carries around my business cards to give to other people. Or at least, he's the most likely. Especially since that's one of the newer ones. Well I suppose you know my name then, Straa Kroh." They say it out loud so Nebula knows how it's pronounced.

"Did ya come here looking for me then? Or is it happenstance?" They pause before- "Oh! Nod once for the former and twice for the latter yeah? That'll make answering easier on ya."

Nebula shook his head. He did not know how long.

But! He perked up when Straa mentioned Wally, and he nodded. He had indeed met Wally! Quite a few times by now, actually.

Oh, thank the stars, an answering system. He nodded twice. It'd just been happenstance. And thank the stars for that.

They clicked their tongue. "Well, hopefully it ain't too long for ya, I ‘ave it on record that most people don't enjoy bein' stuck as something else."

Straa nods in understanding. "Well, it's a very fortunate happenstance considerin' the folk here ain't the friendliest." There's a slight bitter tone at the end of their sentence, but they force their mood lighter. "D'ya have anywhere ta stay while you wait this out?"

Nebula nodded in agreement. He'd rather not be a dog, especially after . . . that. And it was an extremely fortunate happenstance.

Nebula's head dipped down at their question, looking away, his ears back and his tail lowering. . . . No. No, he did not have anywhere to stay. He'd run from home.

They give a sympathetic nod. "Well, yer welcome to come with me, though my home is a couple days travel from here. Which I now have to make." Their voice goes flat for the last sentence, then they almost-growl as they continue.

"The damn shopkeep didn't have the order I placed ready even though he said it would be ready to pick up by yesterday!" a small flame licks out of their mouth at their annoyance and they take a breath, forcing themself to calm down before speaking in a more cheery voice. "So I'm going back home after giving him a piece of my mind since apparently it won't be ready for another week or so! But my home is plenty safe if you're worried."

Nebula was . . . hesitant, about coming with. He still didn't think anyone should be around him. But . . . well, he did not want to get caught again. And . . . and as long as he didn't use magic . . . it should be fine for a couple days, right? Until he returns to normal? He gave a reluctant nod.

A couple days travel . . . He wondered if he'd still be a dog by then. He'd already been one for a couple days now. He supposed he'd see, but either way, as of right now, it would not be good for him to be on his own.

Rip that shopkeep, though.

"Alright then, ya good to walk?" They assume so, but it's good to double check.

He nodded, walking a little closer to them.

They nod back and stand up, starting to walk along the path they were previously taking before they saw Nebula. After a little bit they start to make conversation. "So, you do magic?"

Nebula's ears perked up, then laid flat. He nodded, though.

"Learned, inherent, or given?" They probably assume that he will nod the amount of times for the answer.

Nebula nodded twice for the second.

"Sorcerer then? That sounds interesting. Do you use your magic much?" They're getting close to the edge of town, they weren't far from it to begin with.

Nebula titled his head from side to side. It really depended. On the one hand he was very magically-inclined and liked to study it and try things, but at the same time he tried not to as often as possible for fear of hurting others.

Work was a more controlled environment where he could more easily make sure people weren't in range, though, so he used it more often there.

As his head tilted, he'd spotted a sign welcoming people to the area, and he froze.

Dream . . . Dreamworkers? He knew he hadn't been in Toontown anymore but how in the stars did he get to Dreamworkers?

They were going to continue the conversation, but then they noticed him freezing up at the sign. Straa tilts their head. "What? You must have come into town right? Didn't you know you were in Dreamworkers?"

Nebula shook his head multiple times. No no no no no, he didn't know. He put a paw over his snout. The people who took him, taped him, they brought him here.

"Hmmm..." Straa thinks for a bit, rummaging in their pocket and pulling out a large map, unfolding it and looking at it.

"Well where are you supposed to be then?" They move out of the way a bit more of the road and put down the map so that Nebula can point on it.

Nebula put his paw all the way over on the western coast of Gisnep. He was from Toontown. How long had he been out for them to have brought him all the way to Dreamworkers?

They squint at him, looking between the two points. "How on earth did you manage to get all the way here then without knowing where you were?"

He hesitated, then slowly let himself fall to his side, lying there for a few moments before getting up again. He didn't know if that got across what he wanted to say, but . . .

They just look confused, muttering something along the lines of "geeze i really wish I could cast speak with animals..." before thinking a bit. "Well, we can head back that way then, find someone who knows ya? I assume you ain't a wanderer, so ya had somewhere in mind when you were in Toontown."

Nebula . . . was hesitant. Hickory and Wally - if he'd survived - were undoubtedly looking for him, and they'd want to bring him back, but he didn't want to risk hurting them more. And if he'd killed Wally, and Hickory found him like that . . . well, who knew what they thought of him now, anyway?

He whined.

"Might be able to hire a carriage or somethin' to get there faster if you're worried about someone. Or something. Or time." They can't read minds so they can only guess at what he's thinking.

He wasn't even sure he wanted to tell them. He sat down, indecisive.

Straa sits down next to him. "Worried about something having gone wrong with your absence?" They guess some more.

He shrugged. It was hard to explain.

They let out a small growl "I should'a brought my cards... Do ya know minor illusion or presdigitation or anything?"

At the mention of prestidigitation, Nebula laid down, paws over his snout, and whined.

No, he was not going to be using prestidigitation.

"Damn, I'd recommend it, it's good for more than just situations like these." They think for a little more... "Oh! I know!"

They dig in their pockets once again, pulling out a notepad with a pen tied to it and turn to a blank page where they start writing letters decently large, a couple of each. It takes a couple pages to do so. But they finish, and pull out the pages, ripping them so they're a bunch of individual letters. They put them on the ground in front of Nebula.

"Now you can spell things out!"

Nebula looked up, tail starting to wag slowly when he realized what Straa was doing.

That meant he'd actually have to explain things, though.

For now he just conveniently ignored the conversation about going back to Toontown and focused on how he got here without knowing where he was going.

He spelled out a couple different words.

Kidnapped.

Drugged?