[video]

[bear_with_her]

Och! I don't understand anythin'! "Fictional worlds"? "Fake people"? "Nothin' but stories?" It makes no sense! As real as th'sky bein' blue, Scotland is. Sure, a legend or two may have been a wee bit exaggerated, but this? This seems like th'unreal thing, not th'other way around!

It's not fair. I refuse t'believe any of this nonsense.

...So, if anyone could be so kind as t'point me t'the exit, I'd be much obliged.

Comments

[freezespirited]

Go right and keep walking.

[bear_with_her]

[She knows sarcasm when she hears it.]

I didn't know th'island had jesters.

But I'm serious. I need t'get home.

[Her mother is still a bear, and time is of the essence.]

[freezespirited]

It has everything you could possibly want, except a way out.

Yeah, well. Welcome to reality.

[bear_with_her]

[That... is the exact opposite of what she wanted to hear.]

Gee, thanks. What a bonny reality it is.

[freezespirited]

You're welcome. Is that good?

[thneed]

It's pretty much all nonsense and there are no exits. Yep.

[bear_with_her]

[She groans.]

None at all? Not even with th'help of magic or th'like?

[Not that she has any idea whether there are old, questionable witches around, nor like she has anything to trade in return for a spell to take her home.]

[thneed]

Yeeeeah. As far as the leaving situation goes, it's grim.

[bear_with_her]

So everyone here can never leave? Ever?

[thneed]

Not ever. Sometimes people just disappear to who-knows-where.

[Video]

[coimiceoir]

[Oh now that's an accent she hasn't heard in a long time. She has to see.]

There isn't a way out right now, but almost nobody believes what they say. We just haven't found one yet. We're a long way from Albain.

[Video]

[bear_with_her]

Albain? Didn't think I'd run into one of th'Irish here. [Go figure. Onto more important matters...]

But ye really think there is one? A way off, that is.

[Finally, someone who is hopeful about an exit. This does wonder to brighten Merida's outlook.]

So... let's say someone with a fresh pair of eyes wanted t'look for it. Where should they start?

[Video]

[coimiceoir]

People vanish sometimes, so there has to be somewhere they're going. We don't know how they're doing it, though. Captain says it's the government, and they're in the big buildings in the center of town, but they won't say anything, and they won't let people inside.

[....She kind of wants to play with that hair. It's so different from everything her clan had, and humans didn't tend to like you touching them.]

There are some ruins in the forest, but they're scary and full of bad things. And I don't know if they have anything to do with it anyway.

[Video]

[bear_with_her]

Has anyone tried raidin' those buildin's? Just out of curiosity.

[Speaking of curiosity...]

What sort of bad things? Bean nighe? Or maybe a googly old cailleach?

[video]

[ru_fi_oooh]

Should be second star to the right, and it's not.

You're a girl.

[video]

[bear_with_her]

Second star? Are ye feelin' well, laddie?

[...Perhaps not.]

Aye... and your point is?

[video]

[ru_fi_oooh]

I never talked to a girl before.

[video]

[bear_with_her]

...How have ye managed t'get away with that?

[video]

[ru_fi_oooh]

No girls in Neverland. Except for mermaids and pixies. And they don't count.

[tookthename]

Unfortunately it isn't that easy. There's a force field all around the island.

[bear_with_her]

Well, isn't that just great?

...What's a force field?

[tookthename]

It's like a wall, but invisible.

And occasionally it stings when you hit it too hard.

[bear_with_her]

[That almost seems too far-fetched to be true. Almost. After seeing the Will o' the Wisps again, accidentally turning her mother into a bear, and knowing Mor'Du, the demon bear, is still roaming the forests of Scotland somewhere, it could be possible.]

Is there no way t'undo th'sorcery?

[swordhappy]

I do not think it has ever been possible for the reality of mortal realms, let alone Scotland, to be in doubt. And it is not the end of the world, to be accused of being fiction.

[bear_with_her]

No, but it's th'end of a life if I don't get back home.

And I'm not talkin' about my own.

[If her mother's return to human form could be guaranteed, Merida would have far less qualms about being dragged away from suitors and a life of forced responsibilities she doesn't care for.]