Mr. Fox jumped right in without hesitation. She, and Karlen sat on the edges. Then followed. They fell into darkness, as she whimpered at the air flowing past her. Until *splash*, she was in water, and got up. Her fur felt a little wet. But not? She looked around. A void, utterly black. With water at the floor. The foundation as it was called. It felt... more real... than in her dreams. She followed the string that led her to Karlen. Until she arrived. A crowd of thousands of shadow foxes, they made way for her. "She is her!", "Madam is here!", "Yes!" Until she arrives at the center. Mr. Fox is not here. A kid... watching a TV on static... that was all that was here. Karlen sat behind the kid. The kid looked at her, the kid made of static, with flickering fox ears, and tail. "Enter the screen." it said in a childlike voice. This... must be Mr. Fox's core. Or... part of his origin? She slowly... approaches. He says, "Please... be gentle... with my dream." She looks at the kid, and then falls into the TV.
Then... light. Static... so much static. She feels it prick at her soul. The rune on her body falls apart, as the static enters her soul. She breathes hard... as her form glitches. Human, fox, human, fox. Her eyes flash open in the real world... and open in Mr. Fox's world at the same time. As she breathes, shaking, as she stands in a pool of water. As a fox... and human... and fox... at once? No... two worlds, and then... she falls unconscious, as a pain overtakes her mind. Eventually, she awakens. She is tired... she wants to sleep. All she sees... is herself. Laying in bed... in the real world. She slowly gets up, noticing it's way past noon... she is fucking late to work... she frowns. Great. Another box to tick off on the "Agent is Losing Her Sanity" report Dill was probably writing in secret. She laughed bitterly. "Yeah, I think you can call it a sick day." She hears... she turns, unsure where the sound is coming from? Karlen? "Karlen?" He says, "Oh shit... you... you can hear me! Yes!" She feels eyes on the wall watching. She frowns... he was always watching when she was awake... now\... she can hear him when she is awake. She frowns deeper... she is going to look so... schizophrenic... talking to Karlen.
She gets up slowly. Then falls over. Frowns deeply, and tries to stand... falls over. "Shit... what's going on!?" She focuses, and then... manages to stand, and walk... slowly, with shaky steps. She realizes... she does not remember how to walk like a human. "Shit." She stutters, "I... I can't go into work like this," unsure if she was speaking to herself or to Karlen. "They'll think I'm losing it. They already think I'm halfway there." Silence at first. Then Karlen's voice, gentle. "It's ok... you will be fine. Mr. Fox says it will take some adjustment." She breathes slowly, trying to stand once more. Fall. Karlen sighs, "Perhaps a bit more emphasis on adjustment. I mean... it took me several sessions to learn how to walk somewhat like a human." She frowns deeper. "Perhaps call Fury? Ask for some time off," he suggests. She sighs. It's not a bad idea.
She limped her way to the kitchen like a drunken deer, catching herself on counters and the fridge as her body adjusted to new instincts. She felt her tail, and ears clearly. Yet... she felt... nothing. Her hand passed through nothing, and she felt a phantom pain as they did. She shook. Remembering war vets complaining of lost limbs, and how badly they hurt, even when gone. She shook, and turned around, and waddled to the bathroom. Looking in the mirror. Frowning. Her eyes... were slits... like an animal's. A fox's. Her eye color changed... to utter static. Eventually, she reached the living room. Looking for her phone.
She reached for her phone with her fingers not feeling right, barely managing to tap out a message to her superior. Taking a sick day. New side effects. Adjusting. She stared at the screen. Then added: "Do not send Dill. I will bite him." Sent. As she sighs, and drops the phone without care... and falls onto the couch, before whimpering, as she falls onto her half-existing tail. She turns over, and tries to massage... and her hand passes through thin air. She whimpers deeper. She sighs... holding her head. "How the fuck am I going to hide static glowing eyes?" Karlen almost shrugs. "Sunglasses?" She scoffs. "Seriously?" She sighs deeply, holding her face, whimpering. Her emotions feel... more raw\... uncontainded. Everything feels sharp now. As she carefully, lays down on the couch. Curls up, arms to legs. Tail behind her, attempting to wrap around a human form. She could almost swear she felt individual hairs catch on the fabric. But touch? Nothing. Just a vacuum. Like reaching for a lost part of herself and feeling it almost respond.
Her ears swiveled of their own accord to track a bird outside. She blinked, surprised at how much she could hear—every wingbeat, every ruffle of feather. "What am I becoming?" she muttered. Karlen said, "You. But new." He was quiet for a bit. Then said, "It's ok, I'm here." She got a sudden burst of anger. "Oh shut it! You became a shadow! I'm becoming a pillar of an entire realm!" Karlen, she can feel, frowns, and sighs. "Emotional spikes... lovely... classic signs of inversion." She rolled off the couch with a groan. Her body tried to land on four legs. She was hungry... she wanted ice cream. She sighed, as she felt how natural it was to walk on knees, and hands. She walked like that without care, and it was surprisingly fast, and agile. She slowly, shakily got up, and grabbed a bin of ice cream. Held it in her mouth, by the lid, as she crawled to her bedroom. Then lay in bed... and realize... she fucking forgot the SPOON! Angry as hell, she puts down the ice cream, and returns with one. As she eats ice cream, curled up like an animal in her warm, warm bed. "Bed is nice..." Karlen sighs. "Non-verbal cues... of course." She gets angry, and growls. "Mate, shut up!" Then she freezes at her own words, and shrinks, and whimpers, and shakes embarrassed.
She eventually asks quietly, "Why still here..." she trills out her next words, shaking head, before saying, "Got link now\... don't need stabiliz...er." He goes quiet. Karlen says, "Because I love you." She blushes... her ears pop up. Her tail swooshes. As reality glitches slightly. Before she goes quiet. She cries slowly, whimpering. She says quietly, in half-whimpers, "H-How\... will mate... even... work... human..." He says, "You don't sound very human. Did you not think my fur was handsome? I thought yours was very beautiful, and your scent... so nice." She shakes at the compliment. Yiping a little. Her emotions can't be contained right now. This... would take a while to adjust, but... she feels... oddly missing her fox body. This human one feels weird... yet a slow crawl of control is covering her as she stays in her human body. She sighs, as she is curled around the ice cream. He then quietly says, "Mr. Fox says that this will fade... your soul needs to balance itself. You just threw your soul into the engine of the realm after all." She is quiet. Shaking, as embarrassment flares at her early words, as she blushes.