Chapter Text
I knew I was the one for you,
That night
☆☆☆
Dogday opened his eyes, blinded briefly by light before his eyes settled.
Blue.
That was the first thing he registered seeing.
It wasn't a bright blue by any means, in fact it was a very dull and rather dark blue, but it wasn't a blue that the factory would ever use considering their main theme of using primary colors.
Unless he wasn't in the factory.
With that thought, Dogday got the motivation to begin moving.
It took a moment, but Dogday finally gathered the strength to move his arms so he could sit up, though it was more of him jolting upwards to do so.
Grunting with the movement his eyes flicked around as he took in his surroundings. The sight of a field of green grass surrounding greeted him, the blades tickling his fuzzy back from the wind.
What was his last memory?
He couldn't remember at the moment, maybe he didn't want to, all he knew was that he was outside and he didn't care for how he got out.
Finally, Dogday looked down to look at the state of his body, but instead of only being greeted by his torso, he was surprised to find a pair of familiar legs.
He wiggled his toes experimentally, it stung more than he was expecting for it to, but it was better than feeling nothing.
Dogday felt like he should be more excited, but he felt too numb to actually react properly, he needed to assess the situation.
Moving his legs in any meaningful way at the moment—like walking—was an entire different affair that was painful.
So he opted to use other parts of his body, Dogday started straining his weak arms to look up past the grass which brought a very bright forest into his sight, quite so lush with life it seemed almost fake.
His eyes wandered upwards to the sky, it was cloudy now that he thought about it, as though it had either just rained or it was about to.
Judging by the dew on the grass surrounding him—and his rather damp back—it had rained, and it seemed like it was going to another time.
He didn't want to be caught out here wet, any extra weight, even if it was from him being saturated with water, was weight he couldn't handle.
And seeing as he couldn't use his legs at the moment…
Dogday pushed himself off the ground for a moment before landing on his stomach, punching some air out of his lungs.
And so, he began dragging himself through the mire and towards the forest, dirtying the front of his body.
☆☆☆
They had all gotten huddled in one house, Dogday’s house.
School had been cancelled for the day and for the day after, the sky had gotten very dark despite it only being a few hours after noon.
And not to forget the thunder and wind, that was the worst part.
The sound of wind howled outside, trees casting frightening silhouettes across the window and floor of the living room.
So it was safe to say they were scared, shaken up to their very souls.
“I love not having to go to school, but I don't want it to get like this!”
Hoppy complained, wrapping her blanket tighter around herself.
She looked up to the window and sighed,
“Well, at least it hasn't begun to rain again!”
And as on cue, rain started hitting the window.
“Aw man.”
Pickin’ came in with a large plate of cookies, looking out the window.
“Can someone close the curtains? It's giving me the creeps!”
Kickin' got up from his spot on the couch and pulled the curtains closed, causing Craftycorn—who had been using the little light coming from the window—to look up from their sketchbook.
“Why can't we just turn on a light? It's getting dark and I want to draw.."
Bubba answered from behind the couch, using a flashlight as if to make his point.
“If lightning hits or something goes wrong with the power it might short out the electronics!"
Bubba turned back to his book but quickly closed it, raising a brow as he looked around.
Kickin' was standing next to Craftycorn who was still sitting next to the window, Hoppy was on a pillow on the ground snuggling into her blanket.
Picky had gone to eat in the dining room and Bobby had joined her, Catnap was currently taking up all the space in the smaller couch to nap—or he was attempting to.
Dogday was notably missing, Bubba had no clue where he could've gone.
“Has anyone seen Dogday? He snuck off somewhere."
Hoppy responded by first huffing then actually answering,
“I don't know! He's really sneaky when he wants to be."
She began to look around for anywhere Dogday may have gone off to, eyes glancing around and lingering anywhere that was dark.
“Maybe he's in his room?"
Hoppy peered into the hallway connecting the living room to the kitchen, Dogday's room, pantry, and the extra room.
The first room on the left was Dogday's room, so she opened it and looked inside the dark space, no Dogday was there waiting to be found.
THUD!
Something had fallen in the kitchen, and if her ears weren't lying it was something soft but heavy,
like Dogday.
She stepped out of his room just as Picky peered into the hallway just like she had, they exchanged concerned and uncomfortable looks.
Hoppy stepped back into the hallway as Picky followed behind, gaze scanning her surroundings until it caught onto Dogday's silhouette in the doorway of the dark kitchen, lit up from behind only by moonlight.
She knew that who she was looking at was Dogday, but something made her hesitate to simply approach him, Picky lingered behind Hoppy with a similar feeling creeping up her back.
Same color and form, but there was something almost ragged and worn about him, Hoppy wouldn't be able to tell until he looked at her.
“Dogday?"
There was no answer from him, Catnap’s and Craftycorn’s padded into the hallway with Hoppy and Picky, their once quick steps faltering once they saw the concerned looks on the other two’s faces once they had briefly turned to look at them as though they were afraid of looking away.
Then the pantry door opened, and Dogday stepped out with his hand in a jar of almonds.
"What're you guys looking at?”
At the sound of Dogday's voice the doppelganger finally moved, going from seemingly sitting on the floor to shakily bracing himself against the door frame and standing, towering over all five of them.
Hoppy was the first to run away, shoving past Dogday to the living room with Picky following soon thereafter.
Craftycorn lingered for a bit longer, processing what she was witnessing before turning to hide somewhere.
Catnap went to hide behind Dogday, involuntarily letting out small puffs of poppy gas in his panic.
Dogday's big and bright eyes gazed into small pinpricks of light.