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

[moonshaded]

[Like Fray says, they can't stay forever. There's a real world to get back to, and it'll probably feel like a really hostile place.

She doesn't do crowds and will wait for this one to ease a little once they're in a safer spot before she actually says anything. Probably not many people feel like celebrating after this one.]

Hey. Guess we're meeting. [Like she's introducing herself, not approaching as someone who's been playing a cryptid with their shared room while she sleeps in a weird tree somewhere.] No more crying, okay? You just got here. [She's got plenty to cry about, though; Kainé won't actually really try to stop her.]

You don't need me to be your tour guide, [there are more altruistic people to do that...] but I'll get you to your dorm when you wanna go.

[Whether the girl goes back with her as offered or comes later, she'll find that the room has been very hastily tidied - by a normal, frankly somewhat lazy person, and not an ultimate anything.]

[kandata]

You are right. Give me a moment.

[She hurries to wipe her eyes. That's right, they're all in middle of a palace. She'll have aaaaall the time to cry, once they're not in some metaphysical plane!]

I cannot even fathom what to do now. I think I need...a lot of time for myself.

[moonshaded]

I can't tell you that. Don't let anyone else try it, either.

[As mere words, they might come across as cruel and disaffected, but it's really more of a gruff encouragement. That's nobody's call to make but Kirumi's own.]

In the meantime, you're getting to live. You'll get plenty of space from me. [She's used to that. She can keep being scarce... it's something she's amazingly good at.]

[kandata]

Thanks. And thanks for being here, too. It can't have been easy to get here...

[She feels she has to apologize a little, since it was her mindscape! In a way she has some of the responsibility here]