Gwab snaps a couple times and holds out her hand. There’s a round of snickers as Peach (Pepb) - a pretty who is shortish, wide, very very curvy, and has slightly pink skin covered in soft golden fuzzy fur - grunts, burps, farts, heaves herself out of a hanging chair to grab a weird board thing with straps, and just HURLS it at Gwab. Gwab snatches me out of Stwabdwa hands, tosses me into the air - Wheee! - casually catches the board thing, twirls it, scoops me out of the air into a soft little wrapping, then lays it flat. I’m now laying on my back in a padded mini nap box while she straps me in.

Oh wow that was the most fun thing ever! Do it again! I giggle loudly to myself. The feeling of just moving through the air is somehow both novel and nostalgic. I swear I’ve been there before, but nope - no memories of woosh before.

There’s a very loud, very deep, very crunchy sound like someone just threw up a little. Gwab is suddenly very still, shaking slightly, with a bad look on her face. She’s no longer gray-green - just stone gray - and sweating. Glancing over, Strwabdwa is glaring at Gwab with some weird feeling coming out from him. All the pretties are silent and no one is breathing. Blinking, I stick out my tongue and sniff deep.

Ooooo… Cleric Strongjaw can make the air feel the same as a heavy blanket, but all tingly. Oh! I know what this is! This feels like that alive smell but deeper.

“Wheeeeop!” I holler at full volume.

The feeling disappears with a snap. “Boooo-bpth.” I scold him.

The Cleric holds up his fist before coughing into it a couple times, “Do treat your babe with more concern. Come on, we best hurry.” Eeeegh, huh? I can tell he’s talking about me, but he feels like he feels really weird about something. Does he feel weird about me, or did he poop on accident?

*sniff sniff* Smells like Gwab and blanket… Now, how do I poop without it smelling bad?

Gwab shakes herself a little bit, jostling me around so I can dance a little in my nap basket, before shifting me so I’m laying with my head up, legs down, and facing the same way she is.

Gwab bounces forward swinging me as she takes huge strides to keep up with rapidly departing Face Man.

I’m sooooooo high! WHEEE!

Crossing the room from this high I really take a good look around my Happy Place. The walls are painted with colors of green, and blue, and shimmers, and yellows, and patterns, and aminals, that feel calm and relaxing. Some of the shapes on one wall are lines of gold with fuzzy feelings at the top that slowly turn into browns and greens that stretch high high up to the top of the room. The top of the room is a bright and soft blue with a glow of yellow that’s really bright. Following the browns and greens, there’s patches of greens with spots of color at the bottom of the browns - which are really detailed with a lot of shades of brown and black and some white and silver, with green coming off the brown with a lot of little details. Looking around past the brows are some gaps where there are pools of blue and colors that look like fishy and birdy - my squishes that go on the blanket with me. The room is smooth and flows - with no lines as I turn my head to see more of the Happy Place and…

Gwab steps through the hole and into a gray hall. It’s colder here, but not bad. Less color, but plenty of those holes that are in the Happy Place that let in noises and smells and sounds and colors. We newm up to Strwabdwa and fall in behind him. He smells like when the pretties put water in the pots that have the berries that I sometimes get to put in my mouth and suck on. Wet dirt. Yeah!

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My eyes rove all over the place while I giggle and squee at the bouncing and newming. We quickly leave the stone hall through a large double side door and out into the street of the bustling fortified city. For the first time in my life I see more people than I can look at moving all around. None of them are as mesmerizing to look at as the pretties, but there are so many different people to see. Some look like Cleric Strongjaw and Ariebella (Abwee) - humans with dark hair, dark cream skin, and stern faces. But there are Greywards with hair and muscles, and small people, and people with horns and fur and scales! There are so many people and colors!

Walls and stone and paths and dirt everywhere. Lights and sounds and smells and lots and lots of voices. This is awesome! Did that person have a horse? Wait, is that person a horse? THAT TREE IS MOVING!

I want to stay and watch and listen to all the voices and peoples but Gwab and Strwabdwa are going so fast. We keep turning and moving and the warm light keeps going behind walls and coming back out. They seem to be real focused and serious about where we’re going, but I really couldn’t care less - or at all - because outside is sooooo big.

The wooshing and looking and staring and noises have bled together. I remember nothing of what I’ve seen, just that it was a lot. “YaaaWaaaaaahhhhhh.” I smack noisily, yawning my eyes for a little nap.

— — —

I feel the air around me shifting a bit, things aren’t quieter really, but different. The difference wakes me up and causes me to look around. I’m absolutely surrounded by people the size of Violet (Vawweb), or even smaller. Lots of hands, and elbows, and big heads on little bodies bent over and almost smushed into my face. Huh.

I’m getting this weird feeling like I’m supposed to be scared or crying or something else, but really I just giggle, spit, and reach up. Oh, I’m not in the mobile nap basket thing anymore.

*Looks left* … *looks right* … On the floor. Check. Ungh. Toss side to side and fwhip onto my stomach. Knees in, arms under. Ankles all around me - gap there. GO!

Crawling for all I’m worth I charge between the feet of multiple tiny giants. Not watching where anything is, I just go. The floor is squishy, but only a little. Good grip, easy to crawl. The other kids start laughing and running around me with enough room to make sure no one steps on me or stops me from changing where I’m going.

The floor changes a bit ahead of me, looks like a little drop down onto less comfortable - probably harder - floor. I twist in mid crawl, roll, and change direction heading towards the shiny thing on the wall.

Huh, that’s a weird looking thing there coming at me. Is it getting closer?

I pause, turn my head, and the thing does the same. Turn my head the other way. It follows exactly. I smile - it smiles.

Hey! It’s me!

I wave at the pudgy little thing with a mop of wild dark hair, wearing a bright yellow smock with bright little flowers on it, and promptly turn left again.

Not caring at all about me - the world is too interesting I can always look at me later when I’m bigger - I start heading towards the other end of this room. Woah, it’s way bigger in this direction. Look left again - oh, nvm. This room is WAY bigger than my Happy Place.

The feet around me close in quickly and I get whipped up into the arms of multiple bigger tiny giants. Singing, “We spin you right round baby right round~ Don’t scream and don’t fall~ Don’t you go down down~” They twirl around in circles while the others clap and stomp their feet.

I watch the room spin and can’t help myself - I start screaming, “EEEEEEEEEEEeeeeeee hhheeeeeeeeeee heeeeeeeee!!!!”

One by one the tiny giants spinning me start to dizzily stagger away and fall down - until the last one left pulls me in and falls backwards with me cradled protectively. As we hit the floor I let out a massive burp right in the tiny giant’s face.

“Ack! Ick! His breath is awful!” The giant shreeks and rolls me away. The world goes thata way and I am afraid that if I breathe too hard I’m gonna go with it. Woooooooo.

Giggling uncontrollably. Head wobbling on the floor. Ceiling with a bunch of pictures in circles all over it spinning round and round and round.

“Is this a normal thing?” Greyward booms over the snickers and guffaws of the tiny giants all around the room.

Face Man’s voice rumbles under the noise around me, “No. The children are allowed to play with the new arrivals in whatever way they see fit, so long as they aren’t malicious or potentially harmful… but accidents happen and that’s why one of my order is always here for new introductions. That though, that’s a first. I’ve never before seen an infant without an ounce of panic or fear.”

“That was entertaining to watch though.” Gwab’s voice is making me tingly. “What comes next? You said you wanted to test his temperament. I can’t imagine this is enough.”

The tone of Strwabdwa’s voice makes my neck crawl, “We haven’t even started.”