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]

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]