Kirumi Tojo's Palace | The Ultimate Maid's Failures

[kandata]

By now everyone may be used to find themselves in bizarre locations, between going into palaces and visiting Nekyia. It might not come as a surprise that it has happened again.

What might come as a surprise, though...is how empty this place is.

All around you there's nothing more than a large, gray, featureless expanse. In the distance there seem to be bars, curving upwards to gather so, so high above you, possibly hundreds of miles above, so high it’s hard to distinguish.

It’s a cage. So unfathomably large. You could escape, were you to get to the edges of the cage, but...it would take forever. No matter how you look at it, you're trapped. The atmosphere is so...hopeless. Devoid of anything even remotely positive.

Not that you want to hang around for long, do you? After all, this is someone's palace. Not a place to stick around at. What to do, though?

It’s all so...empty. Silent. Featureless. A flat expanse of hard gray tiles.

Gather together, everyone. Gather and choose a direction. North, East, West, South. All directions look completely identical, but could it affect your time in this place, somehow? Probably not. But all treks start with the first step. Perhaps, if you get moving, you'll progress?

Comments

[kandata]

[It takes a bit of time to encounter something to the south. When Fray does, though, he'll find...

...are you familiar with TVs by now, Fray? Because it sure is one. There's a TV in middle of the gray nothingness. Looks dusty, the screen has a crack.

It's turned off]

[bloodweapon]

[Yes he is! Thankfully he can probably figure out how to turn it on, assuming it has a power button.]

[kandata]

[Sure has a power button! Press it away!

Fray's perhaps newfound familiarity with the wonders of modern life enable him to turn on the TV, displaying static at first. It's hard to see, but there's something in the static.

It's some sort of round logo. Impossible to make through what it is, beyond the general round shape.

For just a brief moment, the environment changes. It's for just a fleeting second, not giving enough time to gauge the surroundings, but Fray would feel something different. He's sitting on some sort of seat, the TV in front, and there's this overwhelming sensation of excitement, of joy, before it all vanishes as if nothing had happened.

The screen of the TV, though, it's rippling like water. The static moves along with it, round waves from the center of it upwards to the edges of the screen]

[bloodweapon]

[How ominous... Is there anything else noteworthy about the TV? Anything on the back of it or anything else?]

[kandata]

[I hope you know enough about TVs to know a padlock on the back of it isn't generally a feature they tend to have! It's keeping the back of the TV locked shut.

There doesn't seem to be a key around here, though! Will you attempt to do anything with the padlock? Will you leave it alone?]

[bloodweapon]

[Huh. That seems weird. And no keys around anywhere... Can he break it? Because Fray will absolutely break it if that's an option. He has a giant sword and enough precision to be able to hit the padlock, do not test him.]

[kandata]

[Do you know what happens when you hit a TV with a giant sword? Generally it doesn't end well for the TV! Thank goodness for the precision he can wield, otherwise there'd be wreckage in middle of this great gray nothingness!

But the padlock shatters, and the back of the TV opens up. A deluge of black and white ink flows out from the back of the TV, covering Fray's feet, and a voice that's definitely Kirumi's can be heard from within the TV:]

...I....want to be.......part of that world.....!

[Next thing Fray knows, he's back with everyone else. Feel free to tell the rest what you encountered!]