Dolphus’ mind stirred, as the extremely ungraceful movement of a full sprint was definitely not the most soothing. But as his eyelids began to crack open, he convinced himself that it was Mariner moving him about, presumably to safety, after whatever had happened. His eyes shut again and he dozed off once more.
…for about five seconds, because the water draining out of his ear made a horrible clearing noise, and suddenly one side of his head could hear excellently as branches snapped and brush was torn. He pressed his lids together, trying to stay as sleepy as before, but he was slowly being brought towards consciousness, and the inevitable responsibility of having to deal with the rest of the world.
He felt himself be seated against what was probably a barrel, extremely rough and a bit rounded, but the ground was surprisingly moist and soft for a ship. Which was extremely concerning, because none of the scenarios he could invent to explain such an environment were exactly cozy, and they kept getting worse the more possibilities he tried to conceive. And to top it all off, there was that nagging feeling, one he had only felt a few times before, that something important was happening right in front of him.
His other ear finally clearing was the last straw, however, and with an internal sigh the drowsy Dolphus relented and slowly woke up, rubbing his hand across his eye as he looked up at Mariner.
Panic mode. There was a very tall woman standing in front of him, with about seven tons worth of hair, a tan even greater than Rook’s, and enough scars to match the moon. Dolphus immediately shot halfway upwards, using the tree as support, but just as quickly smashed his head against the stub of a former branch and shot straight back down to the ground, trying to keep his eyelids from squeezing together in frustrated pain.
Part of him was annoyed, that pesky teenager part. The other two parts were awe and fear, and they easily carried the day, parting his mouth as he looked up at his… captor? he wasn’t sure just yet, with equal parts wonder and worry swirling in his tired eyes.