intentionally trying to invoke 2013-2016 cringecore (affectionate) web cartoon vibes here
Heya! This website is no longer being updated, and thus may contain outdated information. Check out my Neocities instead!
intentionally trying to invoke 2013-2016 cringecore (affectionate) web cartoon vibes here
It's the middle of January 2024, and 13-year-old Kayla Zhong was just on the way home from tuition when she found herself tumbling through a magical portal into the whimsical world of Plat. Stuck in an unfamiliar land filled with creatures known as the Sculpturekind, with nowhere to go, she quickly falls under the care of the immortal librarian Capi Cleftarius Hornheart- the only one on the planet who knows anything about how humans are meant to be cared for.
Mx. Hornheart is... nice, and all, even though he's a little out of practice, and apparently hasn't seen a human in centuries, and the glove imbued with a magical stone that lets her cast basic fire magic is pretty wicked, but Kayla needs to go home, where she belongs.
But nobody knows how & why she came to Plat, nor how to get back; so it's up to Kayla to try & find out for herself. But it's a daunting task; Kayla's very much a sheltered city girl with little survival skills, and she doesn't consider herself to have much talent in anything, but she tries to be friendly & help out where she can. Maybe they'll give her answers if she helps others in return, but it's totally a longshot, isn't it?
...Little does she know the impact she can make, just by trying her best to be kind.
This is not fleshed out at all, but here's what I know about what happens in this story:
Kayla misses Earth. A lot. She misses her parents, her home, her shows & games, the food...
She tries to celebrate Chinese New Year, but she doesn't exactly know when the Lunar New Year starts in Plat because it has two moons that don't seem to have consistent phases, so she just kinda picks a random day & wears red for a bit.
Kayla learns about Plat, Sculpturekind, and magic from Capi, who's seemingly magicless apart from his immortality, but has been observing everything for ages.
When Kayla realises that Capi isn't one of the Sculpturekind, he reveals he used to be an ordinary sheep from Earth, but, just like her, was somehow magically brought to Plat. He doesn't remember much of those early days, so he can't provide her with any clues, but he does reveal that since that day... he just... stopped ageing. He grew more intelligent as the years went by, his body changing to the point where he now stood upright rather than all fours, never seemed to age beyond the human equivalent of his thirties, and... here he's been. For over five hundred years.
Capi's lonely. So is Kayla. They grow a little closer as friends after that- then the rest of the hypothetical episode if this was a series is basically Kayla trying to cheer him up but teaching him about Earth- a lot has changed over the centuries! Capi's initially keen to humour her, but his enthusiasm falters as the day goes on, until he eventually thanks her for her efforts, but... this isn't for him, he thinks. He'd rather be happy with the memories of the old pastures, farms, and villages from before.
Fast forwarding a little; somehow it's revealed that it's the planet Plat itself that brought these two here.
Plat is a living planet, and it's... lonely. All the animals here are so short-lived; and while Sculpturekind have longer lifespans, they are still born of the rocks & destined to return to them after exactly a hundred years. But... magic flows through every stone on this planet, and by concentrating it to the planet's core, honing on that single desire, not to be alone- well, it was enough to pull at least two beings from another world. Beings that won't age on Plat, due to being from a different realm.
Kayla tries convinces Plat to let her go home, and stop trying to bring people here. She is sorry that it's lonely, but it's not right to snatch someone away from their lives. Plat refuses; it's seen her actions on this planet, how she's brought so many small moments of happiness to the Sculpturekind, its children, it's like she understands the true meaning of living here. She's been one of the most interesting, wonderful things to walk on Plat since this world's inception.
Capi has something different to say. They turn to face Kayla, taking her hands in their hoof-claws. They used to live life so... apathetically, until a certain young curious girl came around. They thank her for bringing a little light to their life, and now it's time for them to return the favour. Capi offers to befriend Plat in exchange for letting Kayla go home. He doesn't want to go to Earth, anymore; too much time has passed. There's nothing waiting for him there. But he's spent more time on this planet than he ever did on Earth, and... he thinks it'd be nice, getting to know it better, now that he knows it's alive.
Teary goodbyes ensue, and a portal, swirling the pink of the two moons, opens next to them. After six months of being stuck, Kayla finally goes home.