Ash Salt was falling. For what felt both like forever and a mere instant, she plummeted, tumbling through thick, grey-blue fog that shrouded her eyes and weaved its way through her dough. Timelines flashed by them, spinning whorls of color and sound too fast for them to make out before they passed. Any noises they made were caught in the nonexistent wind rushing against them, being carried away without reaching her ears.
The memories of the previous timeline were all she had to entertain herself, and even those began to fade, as they always did, leaving nothing but their recent failure. A loop to be played again and again before reaching the next portal, the next attempt, the next try at changing what they refused to believe was written in the stars as her fate -- and then filed away among the many others. Most were the same as the very first. Some were different, and those ones she knew well enough to avoid past mistakes. Repeating of action could lead to a duplicated timeline, and that would have consequences that were too unknown to find out by scientific experiments.
It was during this contemplation -- the span of which could have been years, days, or seconds, Ash Salt would never know -- that a tug at her torso signaled the next timeline. Sometimes she was searching for one in particular, a color signature or sound fragment that stood out. Other times -- like now, for instance -- they let the fog decide. A swirling pink and orange whorl emerged in front of them as the smoke released them into it. Again, she fell.
Unfortunately, when the portal opened, Ash Salt had the wonderful experience of falling from the sky and landing directly on top of someone else. Her dull limbs, white-grey hair, and tattered black clothing became tangled in the dark-purple-white of the other cookie as she scrambled to stand up.
[ @salted-caramel-crumbs , for Venom Dough]
Venom Dough had been going through a particularly interesting book about dark magic -- and something involving nightmares, though the references to that were frustratingly vague -- when every single part of their dough jolted with that familiar sense of being watched.
Which didn't make sense, considering Dark Enchantress had crumbled. Venom had watched the monster she had become drift away on the wind. It had seen her vanish. She couldn't be back. Not now. Not like this.
The velvety green of the cushioned bench underneath the dough cookie was what ultimately saved it from spiraling completely. Right. Emerald green and gold and honey-oak wood. Not at all like the dreary metal-and-stone of the Laboratorium or the blood-red skies they had seen when released into the outside world for the first time.
Despite having calmed down, the watched feeling didn't leave, which irked the deer... substantially. It couldn't concentrate on its book, for one. For another, they wanted to figure out where it was coming from, and possibly boil the source of the feeling until it stopped. Either because it died, or because it didn't want to be boiled.
Its ruminations were paused by a sudden weight on its back and the air getting knocked out of them as they were knocked to the ground.
They just laid there for a few seconds, stunned and a little bit dazed. Whoever it was that had crashed into them, they felt coarser than the average cookie. And... dustier? Venom Dough finally managed to get enough air into their lungs to sit up.
Rubbing at sore spot on their head, it looked up at the stranger.
Long, tangled hair draped over their shoulder. A dead-eyed gaze that spoke of a soul-sucking routine. Tattered clothes of grey and a- massive fork??
"Why do you have a fork that large," is the first thing out of the axolotl's mouth, as opposed to any normal greeting. Nice going, Venom! A+ social interaction!!
Take two, "Ah- ahem. Hello. I'm.. Venom. Venom Dough, that is, uh.
OH MY WITCHES WHAT IN OVENS' NAME AM I DOING. 'YOU'?? WHO SAYS THAT?? WHO SAYS ANY OF THOSE WORDS IN THAT ORDER???
It was screaming inside. Why, why did they suck at talking to cookies they didn't know?? What were they even meant to do in this situation??? The Time Balance Department was supposedly secure, and yet! A cookie that was very obviously not a TBD employee!
