Chapter Text
The Inkwell Isles, a small archipelago filled with wonder, and a place that feels like it could only exist in the imagination. Which wouldn’t be too far from the truth actually, for in some distant worlds, this place was only a dream brought to life by the ideas of humans.
Of course, no one on the isles was aware of this, no siree…Well, except for one person very soon.
Said person was currently dragging a hand across a tree in awe of what they were seeing. Their name, is Julius.
If any normal resident saw what they were doing it would be an odd sight, and one would think he had never seen a tree before. Their reaction was only natural however.
They would have never expected to see their world like a drawing. For they weren’t from this world. Poor sap was from a universe far far from here, one where this place had been known in the form of a cartoon. One of which they were actually quite a fan of.
He doesn’t realize where he is yet, but don’t fret. They’ll figure out where they are soon.
Julius' gloved fingers dug into the bark. (How did they get gloves anyway?) Their memories were blank at that moment, so they couldn’t remember much of what happened before they woke up.
It was rather scary, though they weren't truly grasping the reality the situation yet. Thick layers of brain fog were still clouding their mind.
They stood with that tree for a decent while, but eventually moved on. They didn’t know where they were going to go, but they had to do something in this situation.
They trudged along on autopilot, stopping when a worn fence entered their vision. Looking beyond it, they saw what appeared to be a garden? No, a farm. Various produce bulbs protruding from the ground and sunflowers around sections of the back-most fence.
Something about this place felt familiar, but there's no way they'd been here before.
They jumped over the fence and kept moving. It wasn’t his intention to stick around, they were just going through to continue with their mindless walk. Before they could jump the next fence, something caught their eye.
A tree, one that was utterly plain save for a lone tire swing swaying back and forth in the wind. It shouldn’t have stood out at all but something about it just nagged at them, like there was a memory that they were forgetting.
They could take a closer look. It wouldn’t hurt, surely.
The swing was up high in the tree, three times their size. It lulled back and forth. Perhaps it was a bit odd, but they felt a bit envious over the tire's carefree disposition.
It was so high up. Would it be a good idea to climb and survey for civilization? Isn't that what you're supposed to do when you're lost?
At this point they weren't thinking about what they should and shouldn't be doing. They just climbed and climbed, (Thankful that no one was here to see the awkward display), and when they reached the swing, they sat down in the middle of it.
Catching their breath, they looked out. Honestly, the sight of the forests from up here was rather beautiful. It didn't get rid of all their confusion and worries (They hadn't completely lost it yet, it seems), but the way the sun shone over everything made it all seem less bleak.
Maybe this situation wasn't so bad after all...
...
"HEY! What're ya doing up there?!"
All hope and peace was immediately shattered by that single line.
Shocked, Julius panicked and fell backwards off the tire. Before their head could crack open on the ground, they felt themself stop. It also felt like they were being held?
Slowly, they opened one eye but quickly opened the other one in shock. Facing them was a carrot with a face, in particular yellow ringed eyes. The sight of an anthropomorphic vegetable would be confusing enough...
But Julius recognized him.
The scenery before may not have fully brought back their memories but now, it clicked. This was a character from "Cuphead". The Cartoon Series.
The FICTIONAL. Old. Cartoons.
"Uh...." In their surprise they'd been blankly staring at this carrot...man's...eyes. "Who are you?" Blinking, they looked back and realized he looked like he was blushing.
Oh. Oh no he'd been just having this guy hold him awkwardly while he looked deep into his eyes.
This is awful. Horrifying even.
In a sudden burst of fear, embarrassment and a lack of impulse control. Julius wound up launching themself up into the air (In a manner similar to a hissing cat), and ran away into the forest, leaving nothing but a puff of smoke.
The carrot could only gaze in the direction the strange person ran off.
"Chauncey? The hell was that?"
He was not the only one to witness this event. A little far behind him were two friends of his, a potato and onion. Who looked miffed and nervous respectively, as they gazed off in the direction of the forest with him.
"Uh. No clue, Sal." Chauncey scratched his head confused.
"Yeesh, randomly showing up on our turf and runnin' away all jumpy. What's their deal?"
"...They were kinda cute though."
His friends didn't register those words for a moment, then both turned to him in surprise and (on Sal's part) disappointment.
"What?"
"Hear me out-"
"No! Are you serious?!"
"They were cute. In a weird, pathetic way but still cute."
Sal facepalmed. "Can you believe this guy Ollie?"
"Sal's gotta point I mean. You didn't even talk to them."
Chauncey huffed. Just because they were right didn't mean he was wrong! Besides, finding one oddball a bit attractive wouldn't lead to anything.
Nope nothing at all.
That last encounter didn’t go well. In fact, it was extremely humiliating. But Julius could deal with embarrassment, they've had more unpleasant incidents sadly enough.
As they paced forward through a small clearing. Desperately trying to calm their flushed cheeks (WHY WERE THEY BLUSHING), they tried to focus on the most important matter.
How were toons real?!
Waking up in the woods and having everything looking drawn was weird, and yes, they should have been more weirded out by it. But at least they could've deluded themself into thinking there was a logical reason for it all, like this was all a dream.
THAT. They could not explain, even if there wasn't a fuzzy blankness blocking their memories. There was no way they could say this was their imagination anymore either. Everything felt way too real. What were they gonna do now?
...What were they going to do now?
Julius stopped in place. The shock distracted them from thinking about this, but they were in a strange land with no money, no connections, no place to stay, nothing.
They stared at their open palms, hands shaking as realized the situation they were in. Their eyes began to dart around until their eyes fell upon a person with an apple for a head staring at them as he sat on a bridge's rails. The nervous man looked away quickly.
Great. They almost had an anxiety attack in front of someone. Really on track for making themself look like a weirdo.
A silence took over, neither doing anything until the apple spoke up. "Um, are you ok?"
"No." Julius blinked, realizing what they said that without thinking. "Sorry, just a little stressed is all." They added on, wanting to make their answer less blunt and pessimistic.
The apple still had an off-put expression. "Huh. You from the city? You seem a little lost. No offense..."
City? Ah, he probably meant Isle 3. What were they to say? They could lie and say yes, but this could come back to bite them, even if unlikely.
"Actually I'm, well, from real far away. Just arrived here today." Julius was able to say this with confidence (In his own opinion). It was the honest truth, they just left a tiny detail out.
This seemed to brighten the mood a lot, the stranger even smiled a little. "Oh! Well in that case, welcome! Always nice to have more neighbors, I'm Mac!"
"...Thanks." The reply was simple and brief, they hoped their bluntness wouldn't make them seem rude. Despite how bizarre this whole situation had been, talking to someone casually was grounding, and this fella seemed polite.
Mac drummed his fingers on the wood before speaking. "Guess you've got the jitters huh? Makes sense. Probably a lot goin' on." His face lit up suddenly. "Say where do ya live? Down the road?"
Oh. Well they hadn't prepared for a question like that. Must have made quite a face in response because Mac's happy expression immediately dropped. "You have a place right?"
It was time to leave this conversation now-
"Course I do." Julius took a small step back.
"It's just." Another step back.
"I gottaaa finish unpacking." They ran off, almost tripping on his feet. Leaving Mac sitting there unsure of what just happened.
Our unlucky man now sat in front of a bush. Trying his best to calm down yet again, he ran a hand through their hair. It then truly hit how strange he had become.
He had assumed since he awoke that his hair was just greasy for some reason, but he quickly realized it was more than that. It felt like liquid, yet it moved around just like his old hair. Bizarre, didn't leave any stains on his gloves either.
Honestly, he should've tossed the gloves off a long time ago, but when he went to take them off he was hit with a great wave of...Discomfort. His body felt different too, more...loose? Bendable? Whatever made the island residents so toony must have affected him too. Perplexing.
A chill air blew by, and Julius shuddered. He'd have to save his confusion for later. What he needed was shelter.
Before that last conversation he hadn't actually even considered how sleeping outside during the night in the woods with potentially hostile wildlife wasn't actually the best idea. Rather foolish, but he'll blame that on being overwhelmed and not on being absent minded.
After standing up and stretching, Julius walked along the nearby path. To be frank, he had no plan whatsoever. He was just going to see what happened and hope fate would be a tiny bit kinder. That's all you could do sometimes.
He wound up tracking back down the path from when he met the weird carrot. Part of him knew this was a bad idea, but he had no other choice. The only other option was going back the way he just came, but after how badly his conversation with that apple ended, he couldn't bring himself to do that.
Besides, there's no way he'd just happen to be in view of the road right as he showed up.
...Aaaaand he was. In all his glory, he leaned on a fence, and looking up at the sky with a thoughtful look.
There weren't any bushes along the path he could sneak through, and going off through the woods was an awful idea this late.
They could just try and sneak by. The fella looked like he was pretty deep in his daydream. They've known from experience that those kinda things can be real distracting.
After gathering what little courage they had, they proceeded to walk at a middling pace while trying to make themself as unnoticeable as possible by curling into themself. For a moment it seemed the strategy had actually worked. Just as they would be in the clear however, they heard a call from behind.
"Hey!"
They turned their head and looked back, pointing to themself in a confused manner. The carrot simply beckoned him to come closer.
In addition to feeling frustrated his plan hadn' worked, Julius was getting sick of running away today. It was clear the universe was not gonna give him a break.
So you know what? He decided he'd just walk up to the darn vegetable and just let whatever happened happen. Would it be something bad? Most likely, but at least he wouldn't be dragging it out.
Stopping in front of the fence, the frazzled man looked up at the strange being. He was over twice as tall as him, with an oddly wide grin. For a moment, he also appeared to be…leering?
"Well howdy there, partner." The carrot drawled, "Seems like you came crawling. riiiight. back." He tapped his fingers on the fence in sync with those last three words, as if to emphasize them.
As Julius heard his voice and got a good look at him, fuzzy memories from the cartoon about him came up. His name was Chauncey, he was a sort of 'leader' (Very loose use of the term, as no one but himself believed that) of a couple other farming vegetables. All together they made up a group called 'The Root Pack'. A trio who had a reputation for being ‘eccentric’ to put it nicely, and territorial due to the whole soul contract fiasco.
(Huh, where were they in the timeline anyways? Yet another thing he'd need to figure out.)
Figuring he was still upset about their earlier encounter. Julius figured they'd try to smooth out the situation and explain themself a bit.
"Guess I did. Listen, uh, 'partner', apologies for just waltzing onto your territory. Didn't mean to, I swear it. See, I thought it was aban-"
They kept rambling on, getting lost in it and failing to notice the way Chauncey looked at them with the same thoughtful look from earlier. Luckily for Julius, he was far from mad. If anything he was happy the two happened to cross paths.
Oh sure, he was rather miffed to see some chump on their land, at first. After coming face to face with him though, that changed, and their current attitude only perked his interest.
Bursting with nervous energy and seeming like they were going to skitter away at any moment like previously, yet still having enough nerve to try and chat him up.
In short, an easy to rile up weirdo, yet also strangely amusing. (It didn't help that they were cute in that odd way). Chauncey couldn't help but want to figure out what their deal was.
"Aw, don't worry yer head." Chauncey interrupted them in the midst of their ongoing apology. "I don' usually like people wandering here but you..." He looked them up and down trying to think of how to phrase it "...seem harmless. Probably less annoyin' than certain folks around here too."
"...Ok? I mean, glad I didn't bother ya." Julius felt a little insulted, before reminding himself that being seen as 'harmless' was far better than being seen as a threat.
"I will say 'm curious. Ain't seen you before. What's a guy like you doin' round these parts?" He stared, eager for an answer. For a brief moment, Julius were worried he would somehow see through them and know what they were. They hid their fear with a forced grin.
"Guess you could say I'm a lil' lost. New around here." While he put them on the spot back there, Julius was almost grateful to Mac for helping him come up with a lie for situations like this (even if unintentionally).
"Hm. Surprise you'd choose to hang around an Isle like this. Pretty dull round here. Save for the farm of course." A rather arrogant expression formed on his face. "Why I'd say-"
Before Chauncey could go on his own long rant. Julius looked past him at the sky.
“Shoot it's gettin' late. Sorry to cut this short but I need to find a place to stay before it gets dark.”
He blinked. They didn't have anywhere to go, huh? (More importantly he didn't get the chance to brag!)
Julius began to walk away, when Chauncey thought of an absolutely great idea that could benefit both of them. “Well hey now. If ya need a place I could lend ya a room fer the night.”
Julius stopped and turned around. Looking at him cautiously. “Really? You'd help me? What's in it for you?”
Chauncey waved dismissively. “Shucks, can't a guy just help a poor sap out of the kindness of his heart.”
He looked at Julius’ face, it was unamused and skeptical. “I swear! Buuut, I guess if ya don't wanna feel indebted or something. You could stick around and help us with some of our work.”
He paused, then Julius spoke up. “What kind of work?”
The carrot shrugged. “Simple stuff really, pickin’ weeds, harvesting’ crops. That kinda deal. Still, ya don't have to…Yer company may just be good enough payment.”
(Well now, what did THAT mean?)
He held his hand out. “ Whaddya say, pal?”
Doing a few chores so they didn't have to worry about lodging for a bit? A fair enough trade.
“Deal.” Julius took his hand.
Chauncey's grin got the tiniest bit wider (If that was possible), and he pulled their clasped hand towards himself as a sign to follow.
Julius gasped in surprise, then berated themself internally for it. They hadn’t expected him to guide him like this, but it wasn’t that weird of a thing to do.
The two of them walked (hopped in Chauncey's case) in silence, until the carrot spoke up.
“Ah, we didn't actually introduce ourselves properly, did we? I'm Chauncey. What's your name? Think it's important to know that if ya gonna be roomin with me, heh.”
“...Name’s Julius.” They heard him pronounce their name, as if testing it.
“Hm, fitting name for a guy like you." They hoped that was a good thing? It was a little hard to tell with this guy.
Eventually the two them came to a wooden hatch in the ground that bore a doorknob and keyhole. There was also a small mat laid in front of it that read "Burrow Sweet Burrow".
His home being underground was a bit surprising, but it made sense the more they thought about it. He was a root vegetable.
Chauncey pulled the door open, and turned towards them. "Welp, come on in."
Before they could respond they were grabbed by the collar of their sweater, and Chauncey jumped down the hole with them. They fell fast, until stopping a few seconds later when Chauncey hit the floor.
(How lucky they didn't feel any vertigo, or that their neck hadn't snapped from the falling force.)
When the shock wore off, Julius pointed a finger at the carrot and gave him a cross look. "You could've warned me better! Jeez!"
Chauncey had no regret despite this scolding, just a pure smug aura.
"Oi Chauncey! Ya back?" A deep voice yelled from another room, and in that moment, the very obvious-in-hindsight fact that the other members of the pack would be living here hit them like a brick. They looked towards Chauncey, and he too looked a bit nervous.
"Riiiiight I gotta talk it over with the boys. Can't believe I forgot that." Chauncey muttered, and in a flash went back to sporting his (un)natural grin. "Ah don't worry. My buds are real swell! They'll be fine with you staying."
"Ok...?" Julius had their doubts but they'd trust him. For now. He followed Chauncey, who put a hand on their back while they walked. (Geez, he was a touchy guy huh?)
The room they entered appeared to be a kitchen, but they were more focused on the two at the table than its appearance. The potato was drinking from a mug, while the onion was reading some sort of newspaper. Neither of them looking towards the pair that just entered.
"You were gone fer a while. Finally get yer mystery man off ya mind?"
"Not exactly Sal."
Julius would've questioned what they were talking about, but he didn't have the time. The onion looked up towards the pair and did a double take, now nervous and confused.
"Ollie what's-" Sal began looking the same way. He dropped his mug on the floor when he caught sight of Julius.
This reaction did not dissuade Chauncey from his plan in the slightest. He held his companion's shoulder in one hand and gestured to him with his free one, putting him on display.
"Fellas, say hello to our new, temporary helper."
"WHAT?!"
The aftermath was very heated, to say the least.
Upon Chauncey stating his intentions to let a stranger stay in their home, Sal and Ollie's immediate response was resistance to such an idea. The former was more vocal about how this was a terrible idea while the latter meekly supported his friend's points from the side.
Julius really couldn’t blame them for reacting like that though. This was an odd situation for both parties after all, plus this was suddenly sprung upon the two.
In the end however, the carrot won out. Either because he was a better persuader than they realized, or the other two were just far too tired to keep up the debate. It meant they had a room for the night though, and they were thankful for that.
Chauncey led them to a small ‘guest room’. Inside, there was an old mattress on the floor with worn pillows and blankets on top. All of which were massive in comparison to Julius himself, so hopefully it would be comfy enough. There were also some sketch drawings on the wall as an attempt to liven up the room. They wondered if anyone here made them.
"It ain't much since guests are a rarity, but I hope it'll suit ya for the night. I'll let ya get comfy." Chauncey grinned and gave them a pat on the back. "Sleep tight partner." He then hopped off, presumably to go sleep.
(Hm, did he and the other two need beds, or could they just sleep in a cozy hole? Perhaps that was a personal question, so they chose to forget about it.)
Julius laid down on the mattress. It was a bit lumpy, but they didn’t care. Sinking into it was the most comfortable they felt all day, and they could let their brain turn off for a bit.
Things weren't going to be easy but maybe this would all end well.
...Right?
