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It began the same way again.
It had only happened a couple times before now, but it was the same thing, yet again. Her eyes were probably open but it would be dark, inside some sort of pseudo-sleep. Then she'd blink and be awake, in the same position, always in the middle of the same, unchanged scene. Unchanged, at least, until her sisters and her parents blinked and awoke as well, and everything began to move again.
It always began in what looked like the mid-afternoon, based on the lighting, and sometime in the early fall based on the trees. The garden by the house was always the same, no more grown nor picked at by deer than before, the same faint smell of hickory smoke wafting across the yard, the venison no more cooked, or if it did, it went right back to how it was before and started over.
Her Pa always started off in the woods in the distance; she could faintly hear the chopping of his axe from across the property on occasion. Her little sisters always jumped right into chasing each other around the clearing nearby, squealing and giggling in and out of the foliage. Her Ma would always start next to the hollowed smoking tree, right outside the log house, tending to the flames inside, and Robin would be at her side, holding up hickory chips in her apron.
Once they were handed off to Ma to be put on the fire, then she was always free to go join her sisters, as that would be her last chore of the afternoon. The curious thing was, Robin could never remember what any of her other chores might have been. The thought frustrated her enough to leave her sisters to their devices more often than not, in favor of finding her own place to relax, usually in the small but much quieter meadow, where she could better try clearing her head.
Thick, deep woods surrounded the property on all sides, but in the field it stood out more. A massive, dark wall that seemed to go deeper and deeper the further in you looked, and it looped all around their land. But it was often so quiet. No chirping bugs, no singing birds, just the occasional bunny or prairie dog to scurry past, and even that wasn't too often. Even more rare was a deer Robin saw scamper through the field the other day, when she walked through and had startled it from its poise and it disappeared into the trees. The only other occasional noises were the ones she couldn't place, and sounded miles away, or like ghosts of another realm. Noises she wasn't familiar with, but that she heard often enough that she didn't ignore them, as her parents had dismissively told her to do the few times she tried pointing it out to them. If she had to guess, they didn’t know, and that scared them more than either of them would care to admit.
From what Robin could tell, there weren't very many woodland creatures, and they had their own ways of going about when everyone in her family woke. Her waking position had never been in the right field of vision to see where any one of them might start off, but she reckoned that if she did, they'd be starting in the same positions each time they woke as well, if her own experience was anything to go by.
Robin didn't like dwelling on it all, as it seemed to bring about more questions than answers when she pondered it for too long. So, again, when her mind grew tired from trying to understand it, she'd close her eyes and take a moment to breathe, and then divert her focus to the nature she sat in. So much of her time spent watching her sisters play or being given another chore, and so much of it spent keeping herself busy, doing as she was told, not paying attention to any odd distractions. It was during one of these periods of sitting in the field that she noticed it. Something... off. She had been taking a moment to scan the unchanged, partially clouded sky in all directions, but when she reached a certain point it just... stopped. There was sky, and then it just... stopped. And where it stopped, and beyond it… she didn't know what to think.
An empty space, but surrounded by a vast, mahogany colored barrier that she couldn't see the end of in any direction, except where an edge of it met another, somehow emptier space of a differently lit area, seemingly from a distant, out-of-sight source, different and disconnected from whatever lit up her home. The emptiness wasn't a black void; she could see it, for sure, but Robin's anxious confusion increased when she couldn't quite understand what it was she was seeing.
Wherever part of the space ended was out of her sight past the tops of the trees in that direction, so she began walking. She made her way through trees and brush, hesitantly but determined, growing ever closer to the mysterious space. The more she kept moving, the more woods passing her on all sides, the clearer she could see the color, only the strange, brown, warm light, yet no discernible shapes.
Robin had made it about ten feet from the edge of the trees; she could tell because they were becoming fewer and further between, and she knew she was almost there. The more trees that got out of her way, the more she quickened her pace towards it, the more excitedly terrified she grew. She stopped just shy of a large brush in her path and inhaled deeply, then exhaled sharply with a determined nod, and stepped forward through it to face the unknown.
Words failed Robin. The space continued as far up as it did to her right or left, or even, her east and west, it was so large. What struck her so speechless wasn't only its scale, but what exactly she could now see clearly: a room.
A room, like nothing she'd ever known, vast and open as a valley beneath a mountain, with the exception of some sort of wooden structure at its middle, resembling a perfectly horizontal cliff of some sort. The mountains surrounding the valley were straight walls, reaching not a sky but an immense expanse of a ceiling, but what caught her eye next was what occupied the enormous walls themselves.
Robin's first thought was paintings. What else could they be? They were absurdly large as well, taking up the majority of the area of the walls they were on— no, in, she could decipher now— they were massive concave structures partially inside the even bigger walls, seemingly dedicated solely for the displays. She might have kept with her theory of paintings if she hadn't heard a faint sound.
It was just like some of the noises she'd heard faintly, seemingly out of the blue, (or more accurately, out of the enormous room), only slightly louder. The sound shot out again a second time, Robin attributed to maybe a gunshot, but something not quite like her Pa's hunting rifle. She listened hard, remaining motionless, and hearing it a third time snapped her attention slightly to her right, somewhere ahead of her.
The display in that direction looked like a painting of an arid environment like she'd never seen, with cliffs and arches and horses and a railroad being built, and people, moving about, walking around on foot or on horseback- wait, moving?
Robin moved forward a bit further to get a better look at the wall, so far away. She nearly tripped as her boots hit something that was no longer dirt, but seemingly some sort of smooth wood. She made a mental note of the change, adding to her growing list of questions, took a breath, minded her step, and continued on. She strained her eyes to see across the expansive space and sure enough, the people in the concave painting were moving around. More people! And in an entirely new place. There was no doubt of what she saw, but quite literally only seeing the big picture, she stepped forward again in hopes to get a closer look at just who they could be.
In an instant, her stomach dropped and the entire world around her rose as the wood beneath her feet disappeared behind her and her whole body fell. Her scream barely left her mouth before she covered her face with her arms, bracing herself for the inevitable impact with the ground below.
Robin felt it, of course; she'd essentially fallen off a cliff, it only made sense she felt something. The blow was sudden, strong, forceful, and all at once, but by some miracle, it didn't hurt. Why the hell hadn't it hurt? After a couple moments of letting her panicked apprehension subside, she let herself take some breaths and relaxed her limbs, extending them to examine her person. No broken bones, no blood, no bruises, no visible damage to any part of her, but what struck her most was the lack of physical pain. A fall like that could have killed her, so why was she completely unharmed?
She might have taken more time to think up explanations for this impossibility, but then Robin noticed something else, another foreign noise: rumbling vibrations, rhythmic and loud, subtle at first but soon felt through the very ground. It was one she recognized, but only because it sounded similar to the most menacing of the mysterious noises she'd heard from beyond her home. Oh, how she wished she was home now! She'd never leave her log house again if it meant she would never be here, having to attempt comprehending the vastness of the space she was in, and if it meant she didn't have to face whatever was making the now thunderous noises, that were only growing louder, growing closer.
Robin curled up, shutting her eyes and clasping her hands over her ears tightly and bracing herself for whatever was coming. Whatever it was, it was moving quickly, and it sounded impossibly big. If she just stayed where she was and waited patiently, maybe it would leave, and she'd have the chance of seeing her family again. She'd have the chance to apologize for doing something as foolish as leaving the safety of the meadow in the woods in her blind curiosity. Then at least she'd be at peace knowing she could say goodbye before whatever drew nearer killed her. There was no doubt in her mind that was what it would do, why else would it be coming her way-
"Jed, get back here!"
The voice that rang out was loud, louder than the rumbles, and traveled through her hands, easily reaching her poor ears; Robin whimpered, braced herself with a flinch, and awaited the worst.
"Catch me if ya can, ya roadrunner wannabe! Penelope's like lightnin' when she gets goin', and I don't think she'll be stoppin' anytime soon!"
Hearing the shout of a new but much quieter voice by comparison caught her attention, but not enough to ease her from releasing the tension held on her entire terrified body. The holler also let her notice another softer but prominent sound, like horse hooves galloping on some kind of stone, rising slowly in volume as if they were drawing closer as well. Robin still didn't dare move, because even if the thunderous rumbles had slowed in pace, they still rattled her form to her core, paralyzing her in fear.
"Whoa, easy girl!"
Robin flinched sharply at the surprisingly loud whinny of a horse, seemingly much closer than she thought, even if still at a bit of a distance.
The rumbles continued mercilessly towards her direction, and, at their loudest thud, also came to a stop, accompanied by a quick, loud gasp and a short but piercingly sharp squeak of some sort to finish it all off.
And then quiet.
Robin stayed frozen where she was. Silence, as relieving of a change it was from the previous tumult, was by no means a sign she was safe right now. When they had ceased, the noises seemed close, so who or whatever had been making them had likely noticed her, and all she could do was await the worst.
"Hey, you ok there, sweetheart?"
The shout was thankfully, to her surprise, at a volume not unlike that of her father's when he called for her from across part of the property. Then the hooves against the ground let her know the animal was approaching her, slowly but surely, the rumbles resuming as well, tens of hundreds of times softer than before. Staying still, she carefully opened her eyes. Curled up in the way she was, not being able to properly face the beings, Robin slowly lifted her head.
Looking up at a slight angle, a couple yards from her spot on the ground, a man sat atop a saddled, white and brown patched horse that was making her way near. The gentleman sported a brown leather vest over a blue shirt with a red bandana around his neck, his blond locks sitting under a black hat. He was looking curiously in her direction with concern painted all over his face.
"You alright, miss?" he asked gently.
Still taking it in, Robin tried and failed to ponder the question, but she didn't get much chance to try again when she caught sight of what was behind the cowboy and his horse.
Really, she could say what was behind him was by further observation, also above them both, after a certain point. Starting a short distance behind him was what took her a couple moments to place together as bizarrely colorful shoes, immensely large, and when she did she stopped breathing. Motionless once more except for her eyes, slowly traveling upward, past two pant legs, then a shirt stomach, then hands, arms and shoulders, attached to a brunet boy's head larger than her entire house. The face on the head was tilted down, looking right at her.
The man must have noticed her reaction, because the next thing Robin knew he was at her side, knelt down with a firm but comforting hand on her shoulder. In her shock at seeing the gigantic boy, she hadn't even noticed the other move until he was right there.
"Hey, it's ok. Believe it or not, we're fine."
Robin just stared at him, wanting to ask "what the hell" but not quite finding the words. He didn't seem nearly as bothered by the gigantic being right behind him as she was, which was unsettling, but before she could get much more than a fearful glance at him, the cowboy spoke up again.
"You folks are still pretty new, so I reckon I'm about as shocked as you are that one of ya is out and about, much less all the way on the floor."
"I didn't mean to!!"
The outburst caught him off guard, but expecting her to elaborate, didn't respond aside from a slight recoil in surrender.
"I-If this isn't where I'm supposed to be, I- I'll go back home, and, y-you'll never see me again, I swear! I didn't know I wasn't meant to go so far from home, I'll never do it again, please, just don't let it hurt me!" Robin hated the way her voice was betraying her attempts to be calm and collected about trying to convey her willingness to cooperate, so long as the enormous monstrosity wouldn't harm her.
"Easy, easy, just calm down, darlin'. We're free to come and go as we please 'round these parts. And if you're referring to Nickel-boy here, he's not gonna do nothin' to nobody."
Robin's brain couldn't handle it all, and her breathing quickened. The mysterious man trying so hard to calm her down like nothing was happening, the gargantuan boy looming over the both of them, the vastness of the space they were all in— none of it made any sense, and then everything started going dark—
"Shit!" Robin was vaguely aware of her head hitting the wall behind her, even less so of the man's surprised curse as it did so, but more than anything let herself succumb to the quiet of unconsciousness instead of dealing with the madness of her situation any longer and allowed everything to fade to black.
———————
Robin awoke with a jolt, snapping her eyes open and sitting upright in an instant. She couldn't have been certain where she ended up but it was different than what she could remember so she immediately whipped her head around to begin scanning her surroundings.
She was on a smooth flat surface of some kind, and ahead of her a few paces to her left was a pair of leather boots. Her eyes followed them upwards, past chaps and a vest and reached yet again the face of the blond cowboy from earlier. She prepared herself to ask him what on earth was happening, but he seemed to notice her confused fear and spoke up first.
"Easy, darling. You're alright." He spoke calmly as he made his way to her position and slowly kneeled in front of her. "We're all friends here, don't you fret none, you're safe."
That was enough to let Robin at least get a decent breath in and out before what he said clicked. All?
A glance about her brought her eyes to another man standing nearby, to her right, unlike anyone she'd seen, at least, not on paper. A few of her mother's history books she'd read might have contained pictures of a soldier similar to this one, clad in an armored Roman soldier's uniform, complete with metal helmet and chest plate, accentuated by a flowing red cape.
Robin barely had more than a few seconds to process the Roman soldier before she heard something shift behind her, making her freeze in terror, reminded of the magnitude of what other presence might also be nearby. A slow turn in the direction the sound came from only confirmed her suspicions.
Another giant, much larger in stature than the other one from before, was looming nearby, with everything below his chest obscured by the edge of the flat surface she'd come to on top of. Her eyes slowly followed the colossal being's features up past jacket-clad shoulders to a neck attaching an enormous head and face, to finally large eyes, which she now realized were staring her down.
Robin yelped and began pushing herself away from the enormous being in fear, until she hit something behind her. She flinched and quick turned to look, but it was only the cowboy, still kneeling and facing her, who placed a gentle hand on her shoulder before he spoke again with a soft smile.
"It's alright, darlin', really. Gigantor here ain't gonna give us any trouble."
She only gaped at him in disbelief for a moment, until movement entered her peripheral vision and she noticed the soldier coming closer before kneeling beside her as well and speaking himself.
"Jedediah is correct, young one. No harm shall come to us, lest not if we have anything to say about it."
"Damn right," the cowboy, evidently named Jedediah, spoke again. "Heck, if any danger's to come to us, I can guarantee that it sure as shit ain't gonna come from Laredo."
"Right. Speaking of which, this is Larry." The soldier made a gesture above them towards the giant, still sitting there quietly and unmoving, intimidating Robin to her core.
She tensed further, waiting to be snatched up by an enormous hand, to be shoved closer to him and fend for herself in his presence, something, but all she received upon glancing up at him again was a small smile and a gentle wave.
"Yeah, that's me, hello." Robin could tell the giant's voice had enough withheld strength to be loud, much louder than she or the cowboy or the soldier could have made theirs if they tried, but he spoke gently, and quietly enough that it didn't hurt her ears. "And you've already met Jed and Octavius. Now, what's your name, kiddo?"
To say Robin was scared would be an understatement, but despite that fear, somehow, after keeping a careful eye on the giant, Larry, and listening to his words, and a reminder to herself that she had two people just her size right next to her, a small amount of that fear dissipated. She forced herself to swallow, take a breath, and open her mouth.
"Robin," she said, trying with all her power not to whimper as she spoke. Larry smiled at her confidence and willingness to talk to them.
"Nice to meet you, Robin," he replied. "How are you feeling?"
Robin looked down to her hands in her lap and took a moment to think. She wasn't hurt, she wasn't in any immediate danger, if the people around her were telling the truth, so why was she still feeling terrified??
After a few moments of no response, a hand appeared on her other shoulder, and she glanced up to Octavius as he spoke.
"It's perfectly alright to be scared, Robin. This is a lot to take in, after all."
Robin could only glance back downward and nod solemnly in agreement. She shut her eyes and took as deep a breath as she was capable before she softly spoke up again.
"I just want to go home."
"No problemo, kiddo, we can take you home if you're feelin' alright."
Octavius hummed in agreement before also speaking up. "Yes, are you injured or in pain?"
Robin shook her head, reminded of the fall she had taken earlier on, still in disbelief that it hadn't killed her on the spot.
"Well, good news is we can get you home fast and easy, but bad news is fastest and easiest way to get you back home might not be somethin' you're gonna like." Jedediah stood up and put his hands on his hips as he talked.
"Jedediah, please." Octavius rolled his eyes in the cowboy's direction before once again looking to Robin before extending a hand. "In a sense, he is correct, but trust us when we tell you that there is nothing for you to fear."
Robin still couldn't be sure what either of them meant but based on how this was all going she had a feeling that the cowboy was right that she wouldn't like it. Still, she let herself be assisted as Octavius helped her to her feet, and waited for what they had in mind to happen.
There was a sudden shifting from the giant's direction, and she turned to see him carefully standing up from seemingly having been seated, before he leaned down while reaching closer towards the three of them. Robin tensed up immediately and prepared herself to run away from the large digits, but Jedediah placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder once again, with a quiet "don't you worry, darlin," for good measure.
Sure enough, the hand didn't snatch them up, but instead stopped a short distance away from where they stood, open wide, palm facing up, as if waiting for them to climb on themselves. Robin could gather this much from the whole situation that Larry was doing just that, but Jed had definitely been right about one thing: she liked nothing about this.
Octavius gripped her hand again, this time more as a reminder of his presence, and Jedediah followed suit a moment later with her other hand.
"We'll go together, ok? We'll be just fine." Jed gave her another gentle smile, reassuring her for probably the tenth time tonight. She looked between the two of them on each side of her, and then looked straight ahead. The hand was big and imposing but it had yet to act as a threat to any of them, and if the other two seemed confident in their safety, then, oddly enough, so did she.
Robin shut her eyes for a moment as she took a deep breath before looking up and taking a step. And then another. And another. She kept walking, cautiously yet surprisingly calm, Jed and Octavius by her side every step of the way. Before she knew it, they'd reached the palm of his hand.
"Ya might not wanna stand, darling," Jed gently warned her. Sure enough, Octavius had gotten down on one knee and grabbed hold of one of Larry's fingertips with his hand not holding her own. Robin took the advice and lowered herself to a comfortable seated position, as comfortable as she could be on top of someone's hand. Jedediah remained standing, yet also took hold of a finger in a similar manner to the Roman.
When they were all situated, Larry carefully stood fully upright and moved his hand to his chest, essentially creating a wall behind them, which Robin realized was probably for extra security so none of them would fall. With each step he took as they started the trip, the vibrations shook Robin to her core, but surprisingly, it wasn't as terrifying as she'd expected. They'd been right, it was much easier doing this with like-sized company than by herself.
Robin took this time to focus on where they were headed, and what kind of the place they were in, now that she felt safe enough to at least take in more of her surroundings better. From this height, she could clearly see another vast and expansive room they were moving through as Larry walked, lined with the same color of wood in some areas near the floor and the ceiling, which in this area spread so high she couldn't quite believe it, and ultimately decided it was probably best if she didn't look at it for too long, lest it make her dizzy enough to faint all over again.
Still making the trek there, Robin took a moment to speak up.
"What is this place?"
The two at either side of her looked in her direction, probably not having expected her to speak, but didn't get the chance to say anything before a large voice from above beat them to it.
"This is a history museum." Robin looked up to see Larry glancing at her while he answered her question, not breaking his stride as he talked. "People come here during the day to learn about creatures, people, and cultures of the past from around the world. At night, things get, admittedly, a bit weird, but we have good fun."
"People come here, as in... more giant people, like you?" Robin hoped he wouldn't take offense to her words, but all they earned was a light chuckle and a response.
"Yep, I guess you could say that."
"Nothing you gotta worry about, though, chica," Jed piped in. "All the other big folks that come in here don't even know a damn thing about us."
"Well, they know about what time and place from which we come and how we look, but that is all," Octavius pointed out.
"The part that's a bit weird is that of the things in this museum," Jedediah continued, "we're actually some of the exhibits people come in here to see."
"We may be mere exhibits by day, but by night we are very much alive." Octavius even made an attempt at a majestic pose to make a point before once again latching onto Larry's finger, having almost fallen over from the walking motion. That made Robin chuckle.
"Yeah, and that's where I come in," Larry spoke up again. "I'm the night guard, and my job is to make sure everyone here stays safe and is ok."
Listening to them all explain, as strange as it all sounded, it seemed to make enough sense to Robin so far, but there was still so much about this she didn't understand; she still had so many more questions. But, from the looks of it, she wouldn't have the time for them to be answered, as she gazed ahead of them to see the trees of her woods in their own concave space in the wall. As they approached closer, she could see the smoke rising from the house in one area, and even caught a glimpse of one of her sisters darting through a gap in the trees.
"Yeah, and if you couldn't quite see it before, we're neighbors!" Jedediah happily pointed to the direction of the diorama on an opposite wall she now saw from a different angle, which trying to get a better look at earlier had gotten her into this whole situation.
"Indeed, and I reside there, next to that place," Octavius made gesture toward another spot in the same general direction that had been obscured from Robin's view before. She could see it displayed what she could only describe as the epitome of what came to mind when she thought of what place a Roman soldier would fit in.
It distracted her enough that she almost didn't notice slowing down, and Larry piping in, "I'm setting you guys down now, ok?"
His hand lowered to the platform that made for the frame around the pocket in the wall, and the soldier and cowboy prepared themselves get off, with a glance to Robin, beckoning her to join them. Taking each of their hands still held in her own, she hoisted herself upright and stepped forward, leaving the hand and once again touching solid ground.
"I'm aware that it would probably be a bit much right now, obviously, but if you'd ever like to visit any of us again, you let any of us know, ok?" Robin turned to see Larry had knelt down to be more level with the three of them and was looking directly at her, politely waiting for her response.
Robin felt herself grin and gently nodded, to which Larry nodded back, and she turned to Jedediah and Octavius. "We'll see you around, darling." The cowboy tipped his hat politely. Robin smiled and nodded, then bowed her head to Octavius, which he returned, with a smile of his own. Then she turned and began walking to the woods, ready to go home after all of that had just happened.
She'd made it to the trees' edge when she took a final glance back at the three men. The smaller two were climbing back into the larger one's hand again, likely to go back to their own homes as well. Robin couldn't help but smile, and she made her way through the woods towards home with newfound simultaneous senses of ease and excited curiosity.
She wouldn't be dreading the next time she blinked awake. She couldn't wait to learn more.