The flaxen-haired villainess stood atop her crumbling tower, tail blowing in a breeze that threatened to drag her away. Her gold eyes, a little wet from the wind, were steady and fierce, as though she were staring at the charred ruins of enemy kingdoms. mmmm i'm “If the world won’t bow to me, I will bow them to me,” she growled, reminiscent of a vicious, two week old hound puppy. A raven perched near her, chattering to itself. She turned to him, holding out some letters that she had written just for this occasion. “Go, my faithful Swiper, go and take these demands to all the reaches of the sixteen tangy sea. Let them know that I am coming, and that they really should be ready for me and it’s lazy if they’re not.”

Swiper (who was not a raven, but ravens seem more ominous than foxes) continued to mostly ignore her, though he did give a slight bark to prove that he was not a robot (for robots did not exist, at least in the world Nemeny knew). The letters - really just leaves she’d collected from the giant living oak she was currently standing in. Her imaginary kingdom crumbled around her, reality finding the raw edges of her pretty game. Oozing, almost like a memory, almost like a smell…

No. She knew this smell, she remembered this smell, she did NOT enjoy this smell. She’d thought she’d gotten away from this smell.

And then the tree tore away.

She was back - again? Had they ever even left? - beside Derek, Wisp, and Jackalope, in a hall that stank badly enough that all her mental walls were coming down. The stench ate at all the places she’d rather be until it almost felt like she had only ever been consumed by rancid, chartreuse gas.

Jackalope looked oddly perky, especially considering just how woozy Nemeny felt. “Oh, you’re awake! Should we keep going? Or should we have a party here?”

Wisp snapped back, mid choking, “Do I LOOK like im enjoying this??” Derek was close to rolling his eyes as he always thought she exaggerated, but this time she for sure wasn’t. The smell was utterly awful and he had to think of positive things such as the sweetness of rose beds, his favourite perfume or a slow cooked dish filling up an entire room. Anything to just make it even an ounce better, but of course it didn’t work. 

“Wisp, the faster you move, the faster we will be able to get out of here. Get those skimpy legs to work! I can’t stand it!!” Derek shouted out at her, inching closer to the exit. They were being aided by Nemeny and Jackalope pushing them from the back, but it didn’t seem to get them anywhere nearer. “I’ll be out here when you’re ready guys!!” He heard Suzie squeak from further along around the corner. She had abandoned Derek, already escaping at some point and ran ahead of them to get out of the area - he couldn’t blame her for doing so.

Legs trying to buckle underneath her like a newborn calf, Wisp was carefully taking tiny steps forward. “If-if any of you so UTTER a word to me I will th-throw up. Any kind of breathing is moving this god-awful smell around the room.” Wisp had clearly been angered at this point, a combination of the shoving from behind her, the smell and the sweat that was being created by them all was just pushing her over the edge and truly testing her patience - and her stomach. 

One final shove from the two at the back, was hard enough to eject both Wisp and Derek out of the exit and into the tunnel, where the air quality was significantly better. Nemeny and Jackalope followed without any hesitation. They already all felt as though their lungs were clear once more and they could breathe without feeling as if they were being poisoned with each inhale.