[001 ★ voice]

[guiltapalooza]

So... my world's been destroyed. Yeah, not buying it. It's been tried before, by bigger and, well, probably better than whoever's behind this. In fact, I was sort of in the middle of the whole preventing the apolocypse game show right before I got zapped here, so if I could pretty please go back to that...?

Yeah, didn't think that would work. Well. Hi, everyone? I'm Willow Rosenberg, witch extraordinaire. At least they were nice enough to send me here with clothes and magic supplies. No way am I staying in the white phallus suit.

If someone could fill me in on the features that are not as advertised, I'd appreciate it. I'm sure there's all sorts of stuff to know about this place.

A tour might be nice, too. This is a lotta floors.

Comments

[wwaterboy]

[He shakes his head] Wwe're not friends, wwe're moirails. That's somethin' else. But it's true that wwe are pretty much inseparable, and I'd do anythin' for her.

[guiltapalooza]

I think you might use the word friend differently. [Definitely not the first time a demon, er, alien, has done that.] We humans put a lot of stock into friendship -- looking for it, making it, keeping it. Casual friends are one thing, but close friends... sounds pretty similar.

I'm not trying to minimize moirails, we just don't use that word.

[wwaterboy]

"Maybe," Eridan said, since he really had no idea. "Moirails are a kind a romantic connection. But it could be you humans have the same wword for twwo different things."

[guiltapalooza]

Not a big deal. We can have cultural exchange time later-- we should probably head back soon. I don't want to risk being down here too long with a new spell like this.

[wwaterboy]

[He nods, though he's reluctant to leave. It's so nice being in this little space, all alone and safe, with this person he's rapidly getting to like a bit too much.]

Yeah, wwouldn't wwant you to run into trouble if it wwears off.

[He slips down the hole and waits, ready to help her if she has difficulty]

[guiltapalooza]

[She sees his reluctance, and after she carefully navigates her way through the hole herself, gives him a conciliatory smile.]

We can come back down sometime after I've settled in. I'll probably get better at this if I keep practicing. [Willow tries to ignore how much that's self-justification for using unnecessary magic.]

[wwaterboy]

[He perks up visibly at this. Not only has she enjoyed his presence, but she'd like to do this again?]

Oh yeah, wwell there's no rush, of course. But any time you like, wwe could swwim together again, assumin' I'm not busy a course.

[guiltapalooza]

I'd love to, [she says with a warm smile.] This has been... really great. [Willow really does feel significantly better to have an established friend to worry over and boss around. Without any, she feels like she's drifting, looking for a purpose. She can't help but define herself by who she's friends with.]

Time to go back to the surface. I'm gonna be all prune-y.

[wwaterboy]

[He returns the smile, warm and a little helpless, with a tinge of confusion. It's not going to take him long to fall head over fins at this rate, Willow, I hope you're prepared.]

Yeah, I havven't had fun like this in a wwhile.

[He guides her towards the surface, holding her hand as long as she permits him to]

Prune-y?

[guiltapalooza]

[She's not. She's not prepared at all. Gosh, Eridan, she's just being friendly!]

Me either. Oh-- human skin isn't supposed to be in water this long, so it shrivels up. Like a prune, hence... prune-y. [While they're underwater, Willow's fine holding his hand, because there's a reason to. It all goes much faster if he's taking the lead on swimming; there's no reason to object to that.]

[wwaterboy]

[Eridan doesn't understand this friendly of which you speak.

He's fine with her holding his hand, too. He swims easily towards the surface, staying under the water until they're near the edge in the shallow area. He recalls that she can't breathe air, unlike him, so he wants to make it as easy as possible for her to make the transition from water to air without drowning in either.]

Oh, troll skin doesn't do that. I guess because your husk is so much softer than ours.

[guiltapalooza]

Must be, [she says cheerfully.] Okay, here we go. Transitioning back to air breathing like the land dwelling monkey I am.

[It takes a few long seconds for her to get back into the magic zone, but her silent prayer to Amphitrite is eventually answered, and she hurriedly swims the last foot to the surface. Willow bursts through the water with a splash and gasps, the transition feeling weird all over again.]

Gosh, this is just always going to be weird and disorienting, isn't it, [she says mostly to herself, treading water and trying to do that breathing thing successfully.]

[wwaterboy]

[He lets her alone as she makes the transition, but as she gasps, he swims close and breaks the surface himself. He has no difficulty making the transition to air, water gushing from his lungs out of his gills as he takes in a deep breath to replace it with air.

His arms go around her waist, supporting her so she can concentrate on breathing]

You might givve yourself more permanent gills, like mine. So you can go in an out a the wwater at wwill.

[guiltapalooza]

[All of this touchy-feeliness is finally catching up with Willow, and she has a faint thought of, huh, maybe trolls are more physically affectionate? Otherwise this might be getting a bit weird.]

Thanks, but no thanks. I'm not exactly the body modification type. [She shakes him off with a brief, apologetic smile so he doesn't take it personally, and swims over to the edge, where she hauls herself out and swings herself around to sit.] Not to mention I don't go swimming that much.

This was like... a pleasant interlude.

[wwaterboy]

[Hey, he's...safeguarding her, so she doesn't drown. Really. He has no ulterior motive in the least.

As she shakes him off, he swims back a foot or two, then follows her to the edge. He boosts himself out and wrings out his hair, grimacing at the way it plasters itself down. All the hair product in the world won't prevent that, unfortunately. He's tried.]

Wwell, yeah, I can't blame you. But maybe the next time wwe swwim - wwhich you said you wwanted to do - you should go more amphibious instead a piscine.

LMFAO omg i can't handle that icon

[guiltapalooza]

[There's a certain point where safeguarding becomes excessive and turns questionable, Eridan.

Seeing him wring out his hair reminds her to do it herself, and she squeezes the water out of her cover up as best she can, too.] I'll give it some thought. I'm a little worried I wouldn't be able to change myself back, given my track record.

He's so excessively beautiful

[wwaterboy]

You changed back pretty wwell today. I'm just suggestin' that you keep your air breathin' so you don't nearly drowwn durin' the transition.

[His pants are wet, but he grabs his shirt and begins to dress again, uncaring]

oh gosh this one is also fabulous LOL

[guiltapalooza]

Just because I haven't messed up in your proximity yet does not mean it won't happen. Don't make me bring out historical examples.

You have a good point, though. I'll put it on my to do list. [She gets to her feet and takes several steps away from the edge before doing a reverse of the zipping motion from earlier, bottom to top.

Her clothes from earlier come back, but somewhat damp. Willow pouts.] Example A of me not being perfect.

Eridan is always fabulous tbh

[wwaterboy]

[Eridan watches her with curiosity. Even if she messed it up a little, to him it's still impressive.]

Wwell, there's wworse things than bein' a bit wwet. Maybe it's a matter a practice, wwhich I'd be happy to provvide you wwith opportunities for.

[He offers a winning - and fangy - smile. Just joking around, Willow]

Anywway, in the meantime you wwant to continue our tour a the towwer?

it's true. only fabulous, nothing else

[guiltapalooza]

[She finds herself smiling helplessly back at him, unable to resist in the face of good humor. She's a sucker for approval.]

As long as I have back up for my practicing... why not? You're on.

For now, though, yes, [she goes on decisively.] Swimming interlude over, more tour.

alwways

[wwaterboy]

[He loves that helpless smile, and he returns it, a little uncertain, himself.]

I'll nevver let you drowwn, you can count on that. [And he heads for the stairs to lead the way up]

[guiltapalooza]

That is one the main qualities I look for in a friend, [she jokes agreeably, intentionally bumping shoulders with him as she catches up.

So it's a little flirty. She does what she wants, okay?]

[wwaterboy]

[He doesn't mind. He also knows she's joking, but grins anyway, buoyed up a bit by that.

The next floor is a maze]

I havven't really explored this floor, yet. Seems like a good wway a gettin' lost, but maybe there's treasure in the middle, for all I knoww.

[guiltapalooza]

I think I'll skip on that. Not so big on treasure, me. More big on not getting lost and potentially maimed by whatever lives in the maze.

[wwaterboy]

Wwell, there are wworse levvels than this one. I don't knoww if there are monsters on this particular levvel. [As they keep climbing, they step up into a completely dark level, and Eridan inches a little closer to Willow] Like this one, you just don't wwant to fuck wwith, I think. Someone told me that this levvel has things that grab you out a the dark.