Mesdames et Messieurs, Voilà, C'est Vous

[lesmodsalouette]

Bievenue

You're wrapped in a soothing, all-encompassing darkness.

Well, perhaps not perfectly all-encompassing -- you can see some slivers of light here and there, just enough to realize that your current space is literally wrapped in something, and that you are a highly customized burrito at the mercy of an entirely too fluffy bed and set of blankets. Moreover: you are definitely not alone.

Depending upon the contents of your bed (two of you, waking up dressed exactly in what you wore last you remember back where each of you came from, in the exact same state as those last moments no matter how illogical or disjointed), it may not be comfortable or feasible to stay cocooned up for much longer. There's a low, muted GONG, GONGG coming from not far away, your bed creaks like a beleaguered ship in an unannounced storm, and it is joined by even more noises of movement beyond the bed canopy as you try to take stock of where you are.

Eventually, you either fall out of bed or drag yourself into this world: your new and strangely crowded personal rooms, the clock insistently sounding out the hour, and the halls and heraldry of the venerable Château Ambregris -- a lavishly decorated and fully furnished version of a more-or-less authentic French castle (assuming you know what France or a castle are).

Left to your own devices for the moment, you may find it helpful to explore the castle for your own purposes, check out the suspicious statues and personalized plaques in the Promenade of Reflexion, or perhaps to try to get to the bottom of the mysterious and frankly alarming amount of bread piled up in front of the place settings in the Banquet Hall. (Were you thinking of escaping? Any attempts to leave the property will be met with no forward progress at all, treadmill style). There's just about every kind of loaf, roll, boule, baguette, croissant or even animal-shaped bread you can think of stacked in baskets. There's absolutely nothing else save for plain bread, but at least you won't starve.

[OOC: Welcome to Château Ambregris, a perfectly normal castle receiving perfectly normal guests. Feel free to ask any questions in discord! The NPC Meet & Greet will be later today, March 8 at 6 PM EST/3 PM PST.]

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[calamitish]

[ Shaking his head. Twice! ]

I'm a Witch! [ This is Important. ]

In what way? It might have been the magic though...

[coldseep]

What's the difference between a witch and a wizard to you?

( he figures there isn't really a distinction among witches and wizards besides preference, but who is he to assume?

He has to consider for a few moments how to describe his supernatural nerf. Hmmm... )

On my senses... In every way, I guess. It's the difference between having your eyes open and being blind. Do you mean the magic that brought us here? It must've been really powerful.

[calamitish]

[ Thinking about that for a moment. ]

You could say Witch has a special place in my heart.

[ Nodding at the explanation. ]

I'm really powerful!

[ And a moron, apparently. ]

[coldseep]

You most certainly are.

( He smiles! Genuinely. )

Oh, and besides the pastries, can you fill the bath with water? Fresh water, every day we're here.

( He'll lounge in the pond and pool whether or not the baths get filled, but he'd like Even More options. )

The bath looks lovely, but there's no way to enjoy them. I think that's really sad. If you can't do it fresh for everyone, can you at least do it for me when I ask?

[calamitish]

[ mahouyaku men always out here with their earnestness in different flavors, it's dangerous. ]

Hmmm...well I could but then wouldn't everyone just yell at me for playing favorites?

[coldseep]

( hehe )

Then why don't you join me? ( problem solving! ) Is it playing favorites if you happen to be taking a bath right then, too?

[calamitish]

[ hello? trying to get the npc in a bath day 1... ]

Uhhhh. [ ?????????

??????????

hold on, he's blue screening. and blushing. ]

[coldseep]

( He's just like this, no shame, )

You're so cute. ( Reminds him a bit of Akira... ) You can think about it, if you need to. But only if you promise.

( regular promise! )

[calamitish]

[ murdergame is cancelled everyone, because the npc is dead gg.

witch just continues to stare for a long moment, processing, flabbergasted, besides himself, and many other things. ]

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!! [ did anyone here not think he was a total loser? this is probably enough to seal the deal. ]

Who asks someone that they barely know!? This time is the WORST. [ ??? ]

My answer is no!!!! N-O.

[coldseep]

( this is the worst news he's received since [redacted], truly,

He doesn't seem offput by the outburst, and only seems to take the refusal in the most casual sense. He doesn't see what the problem is... but he likes the energy. )

Awww... You won't consider it? Not even a little?

( He takes note on what he says about the time, though. inch resting. Well... )

Maybe you should relax a little, since everyone's been yelling at you. ( That's what Witch was so worried about, after all! ) And when you feel better... we can talk again. How's that?

( u can't get rid of this worm on a string that easily, unfortunately, )

[calamitish]

[ huff, huff, breathe in and breathe out witch. you can do it.

■ is laughing right now in their grave. ]

...I don't even know where to start so I won't! [ breathe in and out. ]

I already said you could find me at the grotto didn't I? I can't take that back.

[coldseep]

( awwww )

Then I will.

( a promise or a threat....... )

See you soon, Witch.

[calamitish]

[ it's both.

witch just huffs petulantly. ]

Yeah, yeah.

[diel]

Ah! [ that definitely gets his attention. yoru won't interrupt while they're talking, but later, before everyone leaves, he awkwardly approaches this stranger. ]

Um, hey, can I have a moment? You're... Hwylryn, right?

[ from what he remembers of the plaques. ]

[coldseep]

( :O person! Hwy smiles brightly. )

That's right. And you're Yoru, right? You can have as many of my hours and days as you'd like.

( He's got so many, so why not? )

[diel]

Uh, no… no thanks.

[ he really doesn’t want that much time. that feels like a recipe for closeness? his eyebags are antisocial.

unless hwy means to become a very specific thing to him, he’s not interested in being close. though he still finds kindness and softness nice. ]

But. Thank you for the offer. I think. And yeah, that’s me.

[ anyway, ]

Earlier - you said to Witch that your senses have been dampened?

[coldseep]

( He doesn't seem to pay a moment of mind to Yoru's refusal - something offered casually can be refused with that same ease. )

Uh-huh. Have you felt the same thing?

[diel]

[ he relaxes a little - or rather, his tension drops from 100 to 99(.9) - once he sees that hwy isn’t offended. he nods, just once. ]

I don’t know if dampen is the word for it. I feel… cut off.

[coldseep]

Putting it like that makes it feel that much more empty.

( He relates to it - this sentiment he's introduced without Yoru's approval just yet. He just didn't want to scare himself by phrasing it so firmly.

He's trying to hold a lot of things together right now. )

Does it distress you? Or is it just strange?

[diel]

… Is there… an emptiness that isn’t distressing?

[ the only thing keeping him together is the firm belief that mister yomi will find him sooner or later. he is, in a way, also not lacking in time. but he misses familiarity like severed limb, and it feels like his heart is beating exposed. ]

[coldseep]

( He laughs, lightly. Touché. )

None that I know of. But I've learned to live with losing these little pieces, bit by bit.

( c'est la vie, as their french overlords would probably say )

Are you human? Or something else?

[diel]

But if -

[ hesitation at hwy’s laugh stops him for a moment. the question is heard, but not answered just yet. ]

If you’re constantly losing pieces, what fills you up?

[ his own simple question, as though hwy’s loss were a black and white concept. a hole to be filled. ]

[coldseep]

( He thinks back on his years. In all the time he's had, what has filled the empty left by - ah; he won't think their names; he'll cry (but for a moment he seems briefly misty) - what has filled their absence? )

Nothing, really. But we live in a beautiful world, I think. I let it flow through me, and though it may pass through like a sieve, that doesn't mean I'm always unhappy. So long as you're living, you learn to live with your emptiness, or be swallowed by it.

( And he... )

[diel]

[ it sounds beautiful, the way he says it. it sounds like peace.

but yoru hears the emptiness and remembers the words on hwy’s plaque. somewhere in the thousands. ]

Thousands of years of emptiness… Living, right. [ he worries his bottom lip, an anxious gnawing in his stomach. ] Is your emptiness the same as loneliness?

[ they’re veering away from what he’d wanted to originally discuss, but this… this is something he wants to hear, too. ]

[coldseep]

( ...

He smiles a little helplessly - like someone who has seen the tsunami coming down on them, and knows there is nothing left for them but this. )

I think so.

( A beat. )

Are you lonely, too?

( He hopes not. Lonely is a terrible thing to be. )