How does your parrapup respond to the new environment around them? Seemingly that they have left those that they knew on the other side of a closed portal, but other parras are coming out of the same type of portals.--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The first thing that flashed through his mind was an obscenity. So was the second thing. And the third thing. Furthermore, it took all the self-restraint he possessed to keep from shouting those first three thoughts at the top of his lungs for all assembled to hear, regardless of any offense he may cause. He very much wanted to do so. In fact, it took all of his self-restraint to keep from screaming
period. What in the name of all that was good and decent had he - quite literally - fallen into? This was NOT his cozy little apartment. This was NOT the bar which operated on the ground floor of that same building. It wasn't even the park across the street! Instead, the landscape which unfolded before him looked like something out of one of those damn sci-fi novels his son was always reading. That tree... that tree was impossible; large enough around at its base to cover a city block. Nothing like that in New York. Never
mind the fact that it was growing, and he was apparently standing, on an island - blueness on all sides... but not the deep blue of an ocean, as one would expect. Oooh no. Instead, the soft pale blue of a summer sky. THIS island floated on a sea of clouds.
Cairo gazed up into the branches of the colossal tree which now towered over him (he'd been wandering aimlessly for the past several minutes), fighting to overcome the panic which was gradually welling up inside his chest and threatening to make him scream after all. Panic never did anyone any good. Besides, he'd always prided himself on being a level-headed individual. This day, of all days, was not the one to lose it. Not if he wanted to ever have 'it' again.
The last thing he remembered, he'd been rushing about the apartment like a mad-beast, attempting to clean things up a bit during the five-minute window which existed before Wissenschaft was due to arrive and drop London off for the weekend. He'd been pulling overtime lately, in preparation for the holidays, and his usually tidy abode had taken the opportunity to grow amazingly cluttered. It never ceased to amaze him, the way that worked - turn your back for an hour or two, and stuff you never even knew you had mysteriously found its way into the least convenient place in the house. Just in time for you to trip over it. London called it the 'Law of Kipple-ization'. Or something like that... Forcing his eyes away from the tree and onto the growing crowd of Parras, Cairo took a deep breath to steady himself. He was drifting. Trying to cocoon himself in familiarity instead of dealing with what was trying to pass for reality. Start over. Figure it out. He'd been rushing around the living room, cleaning, and the voices had been at it again. As loud as they'd ever been. Maybe louder. So he'd been distracted. He heard the doorbell, whirled around, and hooked a paw on the leg of the coffee table. He'd fallen. Beak first, toward the couch. Then... A flash of white light, a warm tingling sensation throughout his body. Darkness. And the voices... the voices had gone away. He still couldn't hear them, either.
One thing to be grateful for, at any rate.
He must've hit his head on something as he fell, and this whole tree business was simply a product of his head injury and his son's silly games. He must be, right now, in an ambulance or a hospital bed. Unconscious. Dreaming. He wasn't actually on an island in middle of the sky with a giant tree and a bunch of strangers. Of course not! He'd wake up soon, and it would all go away. Hopefully with no long-lasting effects. And when that happened, little London would absolutely
love to hear all about dad's crazy dream! Maybe the kid would even make a game out of it. So in the mean time... in the mean time, he'd go along with it and do to his best to convince himself that he hadn't cracked his head
all the way open when he fell.
There was no other rational explanation, was there..?