The Door (3)
(Photo of red-brown fur and paw pads on a hand)
What is this
Thankfully it only goes up to my elbow
Anyway, after that, I was back in Room 4T0, watching the gallery burn up with the newbie-becoming-a-beast controversy.
"I really do need to figure out the exact cause..."
This was a recovery method I'd gone to the trouble of finding, so knowing whether the partial fox transformation was really from using the pond, or from committing some kind of wrong action inside it, would make it a lot less unsettling to use.
And I was curious whether this gradual reversion would still work even if I transformed completely, or whether a full transformation would be permanent — but testing that carried the risk of never turning back, so pinning down the exact cause had to come first.
About an hour later, the clock hanging on the wall of 4T0 showed that my hand and arm had returned to a normal human arm.
So it takes about an hour to come back this far... I should remember that.
For now, let's test my hypotheses one by one.
Setting aside anything pond-related, I'd start with: it happened because I dug the ground, it happened because I spent a long time in there, or it happened because I slept.
If I turned on my phone and tossed it into the room separately, I'd probably be able to check the time.
Last time, exploring here and there inside the forest and napping briefly, I'd spent roughly four hours in there, hadn't I?
When I escaped Room 0C3, I checked the time on the phone clutched in my hand. Then I went in briefly, turned into a fox, checked the pond, came back out, realized my hand had recovered, went back in to explore, and when I came out and gripped my phone with my fluffy paw, a little over four hours had passed — so that estimate should be right.
So I'd spend about four hours digging the ground and resting, and see what happened.
I went back in front of 3I2, turned on my phone, set a four-hour alarm, and started the timer.
Sitting down slightly, I reached my arm through the open door and dropped the phone onto the floor with a soft thud.
"Phew..."
After a deep breath, I crawled through the open door, worked my whole body — right down to the tips of my hind paws — through the gap, and looked down.
"Ge-ek..."
Red-brown paws, and the phone screen with its timer running.
So turning into a fox upon fully entering was still in effect.
"Ge-ek?"
There were already traces of digging all over the place, but grass had grown up and the earth had drawn itself together — the undergrowth was restoring the ground on its own.
Hmm. Maybe my theory that there's something underground isn't wrong after all. It might just be deeper than I thought.
Scraape! Scrape!
With movements that felt oddly familiar, I dug into the earth at a long diagonal angle, like burrowing a tunnel.
I'd been digging down for a long while with nothing appearing but dirt and stones when I noticed the light filtering down from above was gradually fading.
Not because night had fallen — the undergrowth was weaving itself around my body and the displaced soil, sealing off the tunnel entrance.
"Ge-ek!?"
I scrambled out of the tunnel in alarm, and sure enough, the entrance sealed itself completely moments later.
Digging tunnels might not be such a good idea, then.
One mistake and I could end up buried alive in there...
Checking my phone, the timer showed a little over two hours had passed.
I was a bit thirsty and started toward the pond water before remembering I was supposed to be checking everything except the pond right now, and turned back.
Hmm... should I sleep?
For some reason, staying still in this room seemed to make drowsiness creep up on me.
Maybe it was the nice sunlight.
Either way, the alarm would go off around the four-hour mark.
I climbed onto the flat rock where I'd slept before, and the moment I curled up, sleepiness washed over me naturally.
"Yaaawn..."
One big yawn, and I closed my eyes.
This humble instructor is disappointed in you all!
Bam bam ba-bam-bam ba-bam-bam-bam ba-ba-bam-bam bam-bam-bam bam-bam-bam~
"Ge-hek!"
An alarm tone that forces your eyes open, no matter what.
My mind obeyed its own reflexes, snapping my eyes open and sending my paw toward the blaring phone.
Thud!
Bam-bam-bam-bam ba-ba-bam~
The alarm kept blaring, refusing to shut off.
Oh, right. I'm in fox form right now — I have to press harder.
Only after I carefully pressed the button again with my forepaw did the phone finally fall silent.
"Hrrgh..."
An alarm as brutal as its performance was reliable.
With the alarm dismissed, my eyes landed on the timer — past the four-hour mark.
Time to go out and check.
Carefully dragging the phone over with my forepaw, I propped it up slightly and gingerly took it in my mouth.
Given how durable phones had proven since entering the Backrooms, I didn't think biting down hard would break it — but I was quite certain a hard bite would mean drool.
Holding my snout out through the door of 3I2, I opened my jaws, set the phone down outside, and hopped out of the room in one leap.
Time to find out.
Had I become a beast, or did I remain human?
My arm and hand.
Unchanged. A human hand, without a trace of red-brown fur or paw pads.
Taking off my shoe to check, my feet seemed unchanged too.
And my face, checked through the phone's selfie camera, hadn't turned into a fox either.
"Digging, time, and sleeping don't matter..."
Which meant it was related to the pond itself.
Unfortunately, that might mean restrictions on actually using it.
"This is getting complicated..."
What remained untested were three things: drinking the pond water, falling into or diving under the pond, and being healed by the pond.
Though if it turned out to be the last one — healing by the pond — then the recovery itself happened before my first reversion. In other words, before I went back in and spent time there. Which could mean the transformation into fox form after healing — the penalty — simply takes a certain amount of time to kick in.
Or, alternatively, I could have transformed further after my pond activities, and then during the time I spent in there sleeping and so on, everything except my hands reverted to normal. In that case, the original transformation would have lasted two hours or more.
(Photo of a human hand)
I was simply too noble to become a beast.
Unfortunately, it's now confirmed to be related to the pond itself.
Seems like the safest option is to just not get hurt at all
Well, I'd sum it up as: don't rely on the healing too much, and above all, avoid getting hurt in the first place.
"Shall I head back..."
Thirsty and hungry, I decided to rest up in 4T0.
Back in 4T0, I opened the refrigerator for some cold water... not there.
Since the contents changed on a whim now and then, this happened sometimes.
Thankfully, I spotted a carton of milk, took out a cup, and poured myself some.
After the milk, I was craving something bread-like, so I helped myself to a slice of the cake that happened to be there too.
"Right now, I don't envy Gigigogagak one bit."
It prepares any food you want, does it? I'm not entirely without envy, but I can eat these restocking random foods, so what's to envy?
"On second thought, I'm jealous."
It's not just food with him, is it.
I think he said it gives you anything if you just ask.
Except "let me out."
Toys too, apparently, if you ask for them.
Clatter!
Tap!
I accidentally knocked the phone I'd left on the table, sending it tumbling to the floor.
Picking it up to inspect it — sure enough, not a single scratch...
"Huh?"
Apparently I'd pressed something on the screen while picking it up, because the timer display was back.
"But wait, why is this..."
Back in the corridor and in 3I2, the time digits had been counting up normally.
"It's going up two seconds at a time?"
Right now, the timer wasn't climbing one second at a time — it was climbing two.
"No way."
This place. 4T0.
The gimmick I'd suspected it had. The T.
T.
Time.
4T0.
Time in this room flows twice as fast.