clouds came and covered the sun

[hairpining]

[You find yourself in a small, quaint little town. The architecture has a notably late-1800s bent to it, in contrast to the clean, crisp air you breathe – combined with a faint, flowery scent – it's almost as though it is not industrialized at all.

Which would be easy enough to believe. After all, there do not seem to be any people out other than you and your fellow spelunkers – in spite of the occasional whisper you might hear. Hushed and impossible to actually make out.

Far in the distance lies a towering building, similar in shape to a fairytale castle.]

(Castle Town | Atelier | Smithy | Castle Town Revisited |
Painting the Roses Red | The Golden Afternoon | Castle Corridor |
The Library of Babel | The Girl Without Hands | The Garden of Paradise | The White Bride and the Black One |
The Princess Sleeping in the Glass Coffin)

((BGM entirely for ~atmospheric~ and ~stylistic~ purposes and personal reference, feel free to listen if you want to!))

Comments

[guardofsteel]

[ Hmmm. Nothing interesting there, then. ]

You can uncover your eyes now, Elys.

[ Now onto the river. God damn these flowers, they're ruining a perfectly good pair of black pants. ]

[hairpining]

[... She tenses up noticeably as she feels the heat -- considering everything in the Heart has Michi's stats, everything in the Heart is also weak against fire.

It takes her a moment to answer. "I live here," she says.]

[kalahiki]

Don't touch the flowers, though, I have a bad feeling about them. [Sighing, and staring at the river.] And the river, too.

Can you stand another ride?

[hairpining]

... Okay.

[Elys uncovers her eyes and hops back up onto Elijah's back, then :)]

[guardofsteel]

[ oof! ] Yeah. Sure. [ A bit more warning would have been nice. But sure, he can let the tiny dollchild ride on him again.

Also, backing out of those flowers as quickly as possible. ]

[provocate]

[Oh... B) Good. Cackles a little, tightening his grip on her hair]

What a sad little life~! [Aaaand then he lets her go, stepping back... and stepping around to flank her... Pauses a second........... before shoving a foot into her side, pushing her away so he can... press the brand against her hip... Baron why.........]

[hairpining]

[OW

The chains continue to rattle as she struggles against him and them, letting out a scream that is not entirely pained but still probably unpleasant to listen to.

But aside from that, the brand takes to her skin without any problems!]

[provocate]

[Probably holds it... a tad longer then he should ljsdfklj before removing it and letting her up, though a second later his hand is in her hair again and he's bending towards her a little]

Shame. You have such a lovely voice... [Hee hee]

[kalahiki]

[...That wasn't what he meant but it's adorable so. Streeeetching.]

...Any ideas how to get across?

[hairpining]

[If she ever gets out of here she swears to god.

Save for her panting, she's quiet for a while, lying in a crumpled heap on the floor. Then she laughs. Hoarsely, thanks to all her screaming, but with an air of indignation - again, and again, and again, until her voice gives out.]

[hairpining]

... Red man, your head monstershark flies, doesn't it?

[provocate]

[...cackles with her??? Cackling and then outright hysterically laughing when her voice finally dies, chucking the brand across the room and reaching over to... flick the burn on her hip OMG BARON????]

[But after that he... finally picks himself back up, brushing himself off and heading towards the door]

Have a good evening, my dear~!

[hairpining]

[Having driven poor crazy cannibal even crazier, you head through the door.]

[provocate]

[Oh pretty... Wanders towards the river, humming idly to himself as he looks around, and pauses on the bank to look into the water... Also going to... pick one of these red flowers and add it to his lapel *3*]

[hairpining]

[The water actually is red -- there's blood in the river, heavily diluted. The remainder of the color comes from its reflection of the sky.

As for the flower, the red comes off on his hands where he touches the petals, revealing white underneath. For some reason, he may feel a tad nauseous.]

[provocate]

[...oh good swimming through blood sounds super great... 8'| Although ew wow suddenly feeling like shit right in the middle of post-sadism euphoria that's cool. Looks at the flower... then the red on his skin... and then tries to rub the rest of the color off on his pants instead?]

[hairpining]

[You do so! The feeling is still there, but it's now much easier to ignore.]

[provocate]

[hhhhhhh... well at least he can ignore it now. Tucks it up against the poppy and then carefully slides down the bank, close enough he can dip a couple fingers into the water. Don't wanna deal with awful nausea while swimming if that's gonna be a thing!!!]

[hairpining]

[There is no such nausea! The river is just a creepy river with blood in it.]

[provocate]

[The best kind of river tbh... But alright cool, then he'll back up a few steps and kick his shoes off, chucking them as hard as he can to the opposite bank... Ponders doing similar with his jacket but... physics would probably be a bitch to him so maybe not]

[Alright............. leaps into the river and heads across!!!]

[hairpining]

[And then you got eaten by a sea monster You swim across without incident.

Your two doors are labeled 'Index' and 'Core!' In a contrast to when you saw it previously, Core now seems to be unlocked.]

[provocate]

[........oh god he has wet socks now he can't put his shoes back on Guh peels his socks off then, tucking them into his shoes and carrying them with him as he goes to the doors...]

[Checks they're both unlocked and then... pushes the Index door open? Just wanna see where it goes ffff]

[hairpining]

[It goes back to the Castle Corridor! AKA Mindfuck Architecture Room.]

[provocate]

[Hm... pokes his head through... takes a squinty look around again........... and then: ]

Boring...~ [Slides back in, shuts that door and heads on over to the Core!!]

[guardofsteel]

Yeah, we could ride on that.

[ But then there is a wall. Though it probably can't quite be called a wall since it's horizontal and hovering just an inch over the water. ]

Or we could just use this. [ Elijah gives the Barrier bridge a good stomp, just to prove its stability. Despite the fact that the bridge appears to be made of red glass, it doesn't break. It doesn't even wobble. ]