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

[provocate]

[Stretches for a few moments, cracking his back as he looks around...]

[...wait wasn't this supposed to be a heart???]

I imagined it'd be fleshier then this...

[kalahiki]

It's a metaphorical 'heart', not her actual organ.

[provocate]

Oh... [.............squints a little]

Well that's not nearly as fun.

[kalahiki]

Well, a heart would be more cramped. So really, not so fun.

[provocate]

I imagine if she were able to send us into someone's organs, she could likely make us small enough to fit comfortably, my dear...

[kalahiki]

I think I saw this in a cartoon once.

[provocate]

[Cackles]

If I remember correctly, the empress experimented briefly with the idea, until everyone involved died horribly...~ [WHICH IS APPARENTLY HILARIOUS TO HIM??? Baron why]

[kalahiki]

Well, they might.

This was more about little kids and a magic bus. Some American cartoon. It was really weird.

[provocate]

[...stares at him for a second. Sure don't know what an American is, nor magic buses...]

Why would they send wigglers inside someone, dear... [Seems like a job for trained adults if it's a mission or something...]

[kalahiki]

To learn about the systems of the body. It was educational...

...And it was a cartoon, so no real people were actually involved at all.

[provocate]

Obviously not, dear, but if it's part of human wiggler schoolfeeding then it seems like they'd use characters who might actually participate in such a mission... [...this is quite baffling to him fff]

[kalahiki]

It's meant to educate children, and kids pay more attention when it involves other kids.

[provocate]

[........oh]

Human wigglers are not very intelligent, are they... [LKSDJF BARON]

[artsistic]

It's her soul, not a physical organ.

[provocate]

Well why didn't she just say that then. [HIS ENTHUSIASM IS SUDDENLY GONE )8]

[artsistic]

For us humans, many believe that the heart is the vessel of our emotions.

[provocate]

[Leans down towards her a little, eyebrows raised]

That's rather silly, dear. [Indignant fin twitch!]

[artsistic]

I'm sure your kind has a lot of silly traditional beliefs too.

[provocate]

Of course, dear, but they're usually limited only to particularly zealous landdwellers. [Subjugglators...............]

[artsistic]

You live underwater, I assume? Makes sense, with your features.

[provocate]

I could if I wished, yes, but I haven't been to the ocean in quite some time...~ [Before he got here anyway lsdkj]

[artsistic]

Mm.

...What's that up ahead, anyway?

[provocate]

[Looks up! Aaand eyes the castle a little]

I have no idea~! Shall we go see, my dear? [Gestures for her to walk ahead?]

[artsistic]

Or we can deal with... whoever that is, first.

[She motions to the "prince."]

[provocate]

We could... [Ehhhhhh... less enthusiastic about that option? Clearly they should just go start sticking their hands in things nothing could possibly go wrong there... 8'|]