Chapter Text
Chapter 1: Awake
Arlo’s ears rang with pain. The world felt as if it was spinning uncontrollably around him. His gut lurched, threatening to vomit. He tried to open his eyes but was met with nothing but blinding, agonizing white. Everything sounded muffled, like he was underwater, making it impossible to get a grasp on where he was. He tried to parse through the overwhelming stimuli bombarding his senses, but was far too delirious to make any sense of it.
“—doesn’t look good— check for injuries—” explained a chalky muffled voice, signaling to Arlo that he wasn't alone. ‘Not… good…’ He thought. He felt his heart rate spike and his fear receptors blare. He needed to get up.
“Woahh there!” A new, deeper voice shouted, clearer than the last.
“You should really stay sitting down.” Arlo felt something grab him firmly, forcefully keeping him from being able to move freely.
Eventually he stopped protesting, realizing that the struggle was useless. Something about the way he moved felt very wrong. He thought he was sitting down, as he could feel the sandy ground beneath him, but something about his position didn’t feel right. However, his mind was racing far too fast to give himself any time to figure it out.
“Hey, are you doing alright, buddy?” This time he heard the voice loud and clear. The sharp ringing had finally subsided, and to his surprise, when he opened his eyes, he was able to see more than just fuzzy blobs of light. His vision was still a little blurry, but it was clear enough to make out the shapes staring directly at him. Standing in front of him was a pair of animal-like creatures he had never seen in his life.
The creature on his right—the one grabbing him—was what looked to be a human-sized dinosaur with broad, red-tipped tusks protruding from the sides of its mouth. To his left was another human-sized animal, a blue otter wearing an ivory colored seashell on either side of its waist. In the background splayed a vast, waving ocean, seemingly scorched by the rising sun behind him. The sound of the crashing water was too loud—everything was too loud.
“ACK—” Arlo exclaimed in surprise, helplessly flailing in the sand in an attempt to struggle against the dinosaur’s resilient grasp.
“Woah, woah, woah! Calm down buddy, we’re not here to hurt you” It urged in a deep, soothing voice, staring intently into Arlo’s nervous gaze.
“Just take some deep breaths for me, alright?” Arlo hesitated, rapidly shifting his gaze between the two animals.
“C’mon, breathe with me.” The dinosaur slowly loosened his grasp before taking his claws off of him altogether, moving as calmly as possible, not dissimilar to how one might treat a frightened animal. “In…” He said as he took an audible breath. “Out… In… Out… In…”
Eventually, Arlo followed his instruction, breathing to the rythm of the dinosaur's voice. He continued to do so for a few lingering moments. His heart rate slowed. His surroundings grew clearer. He became more aware of his body—and was again faced with the notion that something about him was innately wrong. Now that he had mentally collected himself, he realized why his entire being felt like it had been torn apart then reconstructed with hot glue.
After staring down at what he thought to be his hands, he was instead met with a pair of bright pink paws. A feature that might have been found on an unnaturally colored dog or cat. Certainly not one found on a human. Now that he had a chance to evaluate his posture, and after looking around his frame, he realized why it felt so weird. His entire body had become suited for walking on four legs. Not to mention that the short white and pink fur covering his hands also enveloped the rest of his skin.
And the strangest things of all were the four long, thinly furred tendrils that resembled ribbons, spiraling and twitching around his body as they sent strange alien sensations to his head. A pair of them connected to his neck where a similarly strange, furred bowtie sat, while the others connected above his head and beyond his vision. Somehow, he had been turned into a talking animal as well.
“Wuh-!?” Arlo shouted, unable to produce a more intelligible sound. His throat felt like sandpaper, and even the short burst of noise he made caused it to burn with pain. Once again, he was overcome by panic.
“Woah, woah! Hey buddy, focus!” The dinosaur said, raising his voice only slightly.
“Breathe.” Arlo did his best, but his breaths this time around were far more shallow and rapid.
‘Somehow, I have become a pink and white quadrupedal… ribbon creature… overnight.’ Arlo thought with disbelief. Though, he couldn’t recall ever going to bed. In fact, now that he thought about it, he realized he couldn’t remember anything from before this moment at all, save for his name and a basic understanding of what he was supposed to be, which was a pitiful consolation prize at best.
“Henrick, I don’t know if he’s going to calm down this time,” insisted the otter creature, who had been mostly silent thus far. “Whatever happened has him pretty shaken up.”
“Hmm,” Henrick thought, as Arlo gripped the sand beneath his new paws. “Hey buddy, do you have a name?”
Arlo was still panting, unable to focus. His mind moved too fast, feebly trying to make sense of his situation. Though, despite the strange situation, he felt like he could trust the dinosaur creature. Despite his fear, something about Henrick was safe. He had an imposing yet calm demeanor that Arlo found comforting.
“Are you ok? Do you need us to get help?” Henrick asked with a concerned tone.
Arlo shook his head, closing his eyes as he attempted to breathe like before. They were shaky at first, but once again he felt himself coming to his senses. He took a moment to collect himself.
“Arlo.” His voice was still extremely hoarse, and even just saying his name was difficult.
“Arlo, you say,” Henrick mused, leaning back. “Where are you from, Arlo? I can’t say I’ve seen you around before.”
Arlo took a better look at his surroundings. On either side of him spanned a mostly empty yet sandy coastline that had been smoothed out by the ocean waves. Behind him was a steep, rocky bluff that formed the border of the beach. It was tall enough that he doubted many people could climb up, but it had a man made path carved into its side that made it easier to traverse. Beyond that, he could see the tips of tropical trees and wooden buildings that signaled civilization.
‘Are all of those houses occupied by animal people too?’ He wondered, reminding himself of his predicament. Taking in his surroundings, one fact became clear. He had no idea where he was.
“Well, I uh- I’m pretty lost…” Arlo whimpered as he nervously tried to probe his mind yet again for any memory that would give him a hint as to where he was or what he was doing before this moment. But his memory was as useful as a well full of sand.
“I would say so!” Henrick said with a chuckle. “Octavia, will you go grab him an oran?”
“On it!” The otter said before promptly walking past Henrick and Arlo and towards the bluff behind them. Arlo watched as the otter person—Octavia—paced up the path until she was no longer in view. “Do you know how you ended up out here on the shoreline Arlo?” Henrick asked curiously. Arlo thought for a moment, debating on whether he should trust this creature. On one hand, he was a complete stranger, and telling him too many details might put himself at risk. On the other, he had just woken up in a completely foreign place in a completely foreign body with no memories of what had happened or any other part of his past. Making a friend could be a good idea. Arlo shook his head, closing his eyes in frustration.
“Intriguing. Well, given your current disheveled state, I can only assume you were either roughed up by some bad ‘mons or were caught in some sort of natural disaster.”
He stared over Arlo’s head with a thoughtful gaze, almost mumbling to himself. He began to circle Arlo, occasionally getting close to inspect his head or other body parts.
“Given your inability to recall prior events, I’d assume there was some sort of blunt force cranial trauma, but I don’t see any visible wounds anywhere so it would likely be internal…” He paused, staring directly into Arlo’s eyes. “No signs of any concussion either though…” Arlo sat in silence as the dinosaur slowly inspected every part of his pink fluffy body, feeling quite anxious, a little confused, and extremely awkward. Every now and then Henrick would grab a limb, using his red clawed hands to move his joints and ribbon things. After completing his observations, Henrick would mutter things like: “Looks unharmed…” or “Moves normally…” It was a bizarre sensation to feel his muscles moving in a way that was completely new, not to mention that he was being inspected by a t-rex. In other circumstances, he would have never let a stranger do this to him, but this guy was clearly educated and hopefully trustworthy, and Arlo wasn't exactly in a position to protest.
“Well, you seem to be healthy, if not dehydrated,” Henrick said after he was satisfied with his inspection, “though I can only make so much of an assessment out here on the beach.”
Henrick glanced over to the bluff, which drew Arlo’s gaze too. Squinting, Arlo saw that Octavia was on her way back carrying a metal canteen and a couple large, green stemmed, blueberry-looking fruits.
“We’ll get you some berries and water, and then we can see how you feel after.”
Arlo nodded and attempted a “thank you,” but he had forgotten that his voice was still borderline unusable, so it came out scratchy and choked.
“Of course, buddy!” Henrick said with a grin. “It’s what I do, after all!”
Just as Arlo was about to ask Henrick what he meant by that, Octavia plotted herself in front of him.
“Here, eat this,” the otter prompted, handing Arlo one of the fruits. Her tone was more direct than Henrick’s, and she looked at him with a more serious gaze when compared to the gentleness of the dinosaur.
Arlo reached for the fruit with his paw. However, to his dismay, his new physiology prevented him from actually picking it up the way he was used to. He instead knocked it to the ground in front of him. Octavia gave him a confused stare as he gave a couple vain attempts to pick the fruit up with his paw. Embarrassed, he eventually decided to pick it off the floor with his mouth, smacking his snout into the sand in the process.
The experience of eating with an elongated mouth was odd, and he hadn't realized just how sharp his teeth were—particularly his two lengthy fangs—so he made sure to be extra cautious with every bite.
The fruit tasted nothing like a blueberry. It was bittersweet and crunched in his teeth from the leftover sand. The taste of the fruit was rather pleasant, though, and to his surprise, he immediately started to feel rejuvenated.
“Woah…” Arlo muttered before looking up at his company. They were both giving him a concerned look, clearly confused by his behavior. He shrunk a little in embarrassment.
Henrick shrugged. “Well, Arlo, our office is not too far from here. How about you get a drink, and then we can walk there together.” He explained as he opened the canteen Octavia had brought for Arlo.“From there we can figure out what we need to do next. Sound good?”
Arlo nodded as he fumbled with the canteen. He was thankful that he had stumbled upon people who were so knowledgeable, and who were willing to take pity on him.
Though, Arlo couldn’t help but worry. He was in uncharted waters, with not so much as a map to assist him. Everything was new and wrong, and it took every part of him to keep himself from breaking down. He was uncertain of what he was going to do next. But he knew he needed all the help he could get. So, for the first time since being awake, he stood.