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]

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]

[kalahiki]

Depends on the kid, really.

Television producers just assume everyone's kind of stupid, though, so they can make the message simple enough for everyone. It's a shitty way of doing things, but there it is.

[provocate]

Ah... hm. Yes, that seems a poor way to prepare your youth...

[kalahiki]

It's not the worst way but it does leave them with a lot of problems, or so I'm told.

It's not something I ever knew about growing up, so I couldn't talk a lot about those problems.

[provocate]

Oh? [Well now you have his attention bro ('8]

You had an abnormal wigglerhood, dear?

[kalahiki]

My mother sold me. [Shrugs.] So no, not really.

[provocate]

[...LKSDJLFKJ???]

How unfortunate for you...

[kalahiki]

You don't know the half of it.

[Smiling. Smiling so cheerfully. This is totally a safe topic of conversation, baron.]

It's not like either of my parents have anything to do with me now, or anyone from back then, so whatever.

[provocate]

[A H A H A like he gives a fuck about how safe it is lskjdflj I'm sorry Sei]

[He will reach over to pap him again though fff that smile's looking a little fake there broskie]

It's rather silly to dismiss wigglerhood trauma, darling.

[kalahiki]

Dismiss? No, no, you misunderstand.

[Smiling a little more...broadly. Sharklike, even.]

I got even, so there's no point suffering over it anymore.

[provocate]

Got even~? How exciting. [Dis smile says he'd be chinhands if they weren't standing 8> Do go on, darling]

[kalahiki]

I made very sure the man I was sold to is very very dead. Letting my mother wallow in her own misery until she dies is punishment enough. As for my father, he never existed, so it's not my problem.

[provocate]

[Huu... cackles lkjsdf]

What an eventful life you've lived~! You must be so glad... [BARON]

[kalahiki]

Well, I did get one thing out of it.

[...What is this glowing card in his hand and there's this ominous shark like shadow forming around him with glowing, brilliant blue tribal markings flickering through it.]

I have larger fangs than anyone.

[provocate]

[...oh how curious! 8>!!! Grins, showing off all his own rather distinctly sharkish teeth, and reaches to try and touch the shadow]

Ahhh my dear, boasting like that usually gets you in trouble, in my experience...~ [Always bigger fish in the pond and all that!]

[kalahiki]

I've lived trouble my whole life, Baron...

[He shatters the card and Kalahiki fully manifests. It's freezing to the touch, and gargantuan, circling around Sei and gazing down at the troll with the sort of vague disinterest of something wondering if you're worth eating.]

People are hunters, the only thing that changes is how.

[provocate]

[Hee hee watches the shark circle now, a sort of bright... insanity way in the back of his eye, the kind of insanity that says I've eaten bigger for breakfast and thinks that's a good idea to throw at gigantic frozen soul monsters]

Oh...? Odd, you always seemed too soft to be hunters to me.