Falling Headfirst ♢ Dungeon

Althea plopped herself down on top of Fairy Tail’s roof, reaching upwards to stretch her aching arms.  Her bare legs, freed from their usual shoes and stockings, hung over the side.  And that wasn’t the only wardrobe change, the blonde also adorned shorts and a loose fitting white t-shirt that was too large for her.  Said white shirt depicted a large, rather distressed lobster being boiled alive with the words “超チョコレートで覆われたエビの祭典!” written across it in red.  Sadly, Althea was extremely rusty in the language, but she could decipher it was talking about chocolate or something.  It had been a rather long day of taking jobs, but now she had finally returned to Magnolia where she could finally relax, not like she didn’t take it easy in the middle of a task too.  It was just that she kind of liked being in Magnolia more than any other place, but even as the young mage gazed across the city landscape with the moon hanging in the center the sky she couldn’t put her finger on why.  “Well, I guess that’s a question for tomorrow…”  She said to herself, swinging her legs onto the roof and wrapping herself with a fluffy blanket in a style mimicking that of a burrito.  Althea wasn’t sure anyone eve knew she slept up there, but she was sure no one in Fairy Tail would mind!  And thus she just went to sleep, drifting out of consciousness on that quiet roof.

The young girl woke up slowly, methodically.  She could blast in and out of naps, waking up and performing as if she had never been asleep in the first place, but in the mornings Althea took ages.  First, if she woke up and she couldn’t see the sun she would just go back to sleep.  Then, once late enough for her, she would bury herself into her overly fluffy blanket until she was only breathing hot air and began the task of slowly unfurling herself from the blanket.  Then she would sleep some more.  If she slept for that long, eventually the sun would be right overhead and make her too hot, leading her to try and use the blanket for shade.  But then, it would make her hot anyways, so Althea would fidget, eventually falling off the roof and beginning the day in the early afternoon.  Although that specific day was different because the moment she gained even a level on consciousness she realized something was really off.  It felt as if she was being absolutely smothered by her blankets and even as she tried inching through them they seemed endless.  When she finally poked her head out, she found that it wasn’t just the blanket that seemed too big but everything else.  After that was she realized she also had a tail, something that momentarily gave the young girl a panic attack before she recognized it as a squirrel’s.  So, she had been turned into a squirrel in her sleep.  That didn’t happen everyday.

Maybe she would become normal again later, but Althea honestly didn’t feel like waiting to find out.  So, forgetting all morning drowsiness she usually had at the time she set out.  But not before hurriedly recovering her ribbon from the mess of clothing articles that she had shrunk out of, holdinging it in her mouth.  Before but before she even left a roof, Althea recognized that she had some company -- a fellow squirrel.  The rodent had abnormally wide yet empty brown eyes were stuck appearing as if they were constantly witnessing the most traumatizing thing in their life.  Other than that, their brown fur and squirrel features were nothing out of the ordinary.  “Hey.”  Squirrel Althea said, although she paused out of surprise when she heard that she wasn’t communicating in squirrel speak.  Wouldn’t the sudden transformation have made it impossible for her vocal chords to make their usual sounds?  “What are you, stupid?  Someone may hear you!”  The other fluffy creature exclaimed, glaring at Althea.  “Wha?  But you’re speaking at the same volume as m-”  Suddenly, the squirrel reached out, grabbing the young girl’s squirrel ear.  “NO BACK TALKING!”  They screeched, “Follow me, no chatting missy.”

Squirrel Althea completely ignored the other squirrel, going in literally the opposite direction.  They had already gotten on her nerve so therefore she disliked them, simple as that.  But maybe they knew how to turn back into what she wa before?  Who knows.  She sure didn’t.  “What are you waiting for?  You coming or not?”  The other squirrel squeaked, their tone flat.  And something about the way they said it made them less annoying to Althea, enough so that she reckoned that following the talking squirrel was suddenly a great idea.  “Okay, wait a second!”  “Okay then - wait, where are you-?”  Althea head, in her squirrel form, had run to the edge of the Fairy Tail building’s roof before jumping off.  She had done the same thing many times before when navigating Magnolia, but for some reason her usual physical strength didn’t, well, work.  It had probably seemed like she had given up on life and decided to commit squirrel-icide, but instead of finding herself dead on the ground the young girl found herself not dead and not on the ground.  Looking behind her, she recognized that another squirrel had caught her, their paw extended from the shade of a tree.

“Oh, thanks.  I guess that since I’m a squirrel I can’t use-”  But Althea’s thank you was interrupted by the sound of sobs, “I-I-I’M JUST SO HAPPY YOU DIDN’T GET HURT!”  They cried, pulling the smaller creature into tree and trapping her in a hug.  “Okay, but could you-”  “I THOUGHT YOU WERE GOING TO DIE!”  “Yeah but-”  “WHY WOULD YOU EVER JUST JUMP OFF THE ROOF?!”  “Shut up Tevse, she got here faster than me so I guess it’s fine.”  A new voice interjected, Althea recognizing it as the 1st squirrel.  The squirrel coddling her, apparently named Tevse, ceased his crying to actually speak like a normal person, “I only shut up when I want to shut up, thank you very much.”  The female squirrel grinned, “But I just wanted to ask how you got so many fries stocked up?”  “Stealing from McDonalds is easy!  At the driveway, say ‘you forgot my fries’ or ‘you forgot my drink’, AND THEY’LL GET IT FOR YOU.”  “But for real, have you seen the newest episode of the show with the weddings?”  “And then with the one with the orange dress?”  “The golf cart had to turn around because HE SAW IT!”  “And then the grandma came in with the cake…”  “YES and she threw the shoe AT THE CAKE!”  “Erm… what?”  Althea said flatly, her face still being pressed into Tevse’s fur.  She wasn’t sure why they were having such an engaging discussion about stealing from fast food joints and cakes, bu to each their own.  And soon Althea had managed to pry herself away from his grasp enough to really speak, “Are you guys humans too then?”

The two squirrels turned to the younger one, seeming like they had properly noticed her for the first time.  “Cutting right to the chase, huh?”  The first squirrel Althea encounter squealed, turning to face her.  “I’m Rahsa and this is Tevse and we’re squirrels.  But, we weren’t always like this.  You see-”  “Well, I’m Althea, nice to meet you, but does that mean you guys don’t know how to turn back into people?”  “Oh no, we found out someone who could ages ago.”  Tevse explained. “We just like being squirrels, I want to find the horrible Pyup!”  The squirrel waved around their little paws in a way they must’ve assumed assumed was incredibly foreboding.  “Isn’t that just ‘puppy’ with the letters mixed up?”  Althea inquired, “Well, yeah, they’re my dog.”  Tevse replied in a plain fashion as if everything should be obvious.  “But anyways, if you want help to find the wizard who can turn you back, we-”  “HEY TEVSE, don’t you go agreeing to do things without me saying anything!”  Rahsa yelled, taking a step towards the male.

“And what will you do about it?”  The male shot back, but Rahsa just ignored him, shifting her large eyes to Althea, “Anyways, if you want help to find the wizard who can turn you back, we’ll help!”  “...that was exactly what I was about to say.”  “Yeah, but at least I confirmed whether or not you’re up to it!”  But the moment the pair said that they’d help her Althea had been wearing a grin on her features, “Thanks again you guys!”  For Althea, being a squirrel made her intensely uncomfortable to a large degree, but that was only due to prior experience with not being outwardly human, so she had surprised even herself when she felt a rush of relief wash over her.  Usually in situations such as the one the ribbon-adorned mage was in she was pretty indifferent, doing things because she felt like it.  But the moment she had discovered her change in form, Althea had sought out a way to change back, not even thinking about all the things she could do as a squirrel for a moment.

“Anyways Althea, in order to find the wizard we have to find their bird first.”  Rahsa voiced, bringing the young girl away from her thoughts.  “If we find it and follow it the thing will lead us on a completely safe route to their place.  Don’t worry about  convincing him though, they said they’ll change any squirrel sent to him back into a human.  After all, it is his fault for shooting lasers that transform people into squirrels around in the middle of the night.  But seriously, who in their right mind would thing that’s okay?”  The female squirrel shook her head to further communicate her dislike of squirrel lasers.  “Okay then… where is that bird?”  “Dunno.”

It took absolutely ages to find even a hint of the wizard’s bird.  According to Tesve, since Rahsa had forgotten how it looked, it was a blueish greenish brownish small little finch vulture thing.  Despite the squirrel’s companion's hard pressing for more details that weren’t so confusing, Tesve had insisted that they’d know it once they saw it.  And he was right, when Althea found a blueish greenish brownish colored feather the group knew they were on the right track.  Soon the shape of a little finch vulture thing was spotted in a tree that the group quickly climbed up.  “FINALLY.  Wizard’s bird secured!”  Tesve breathed as he rested on the tree limb.  “Hey, we should name him.”  Rahsa said suddenly,  “But won’t the wizard already have gave them a name?”  “Yeah, but will just be out name for them since we don’t know the one the wizard gave it.”  Tesve shrugged, signalling that the female could do whatever.  And so when Rahsa patted the bird with a paw, “I’ll call him… Pup!”  “What?  Can’t think of a better name?”  “No, it’s ‘pup’ spelled backwards!”  “But pup spelled backwards is still pup, why would you-”  “OH, IT’S THE PYPUP!”  The other squirrel announced, pointing right behind Tevse.  “WHAT, WHERE?”  The squirrel exclaimed, looking over the edge of the branch in hopes of getting a glimpse.  “Why don’t I help you get a better view?”  Rahsa replied before giving him a swift kick to the rump, sending them plummeting into the soft dirt below the tree.  Althea stared at the now dirt covered dog addict, “Is she okay?”  “Why would I care?  He insulted Pup’s name!”  “But it isn’t a dog…”  “Do you want to go down there too?”

Soon Tevse had caught up to the two and they spooked Pup, prompting him to take flight to their master’s home.  And in no time at all, they arrived, watching Pup disappear into the confines of a tower.  “Hey Althea before you go…”  Rahsa squeaked, “I… I just wanted to let you know my name isn’t Rahsa!  It’s Sarah!!”  Tevse’s eyes glazed over, “And mine is actually Steve!  We’re so sorry for lying to you!”  Squirrel Althea looked at them for a moment, expression only actually displaying mild surprise, “I… already knew that.  It’s just your names mixed up.  I mean, you can name yourself whatever, there isn’t really a real name for anyone.”  Rahsa used her fluffy tail to brush away any of Tevse’s tears, the pairs both grinning at, “It was fun, Althea.”  “Yep, it was.  See ya.”  “So what’s your name then?  Or at least the one you think is your real one?”

2102/2000

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