paradisa | 001; Dictated

Entry tags:

colonnello

001; Dictated

[ Well this is an odd situation to find yourself in. A man in military gear and a big ol' rifle strapped to his back is standing outside the castle in the nice cold night air staring up at it critically. He's got the journal open in one hand and every now and then looks down to flip a page or two over.

He seems to have gotten the basic gist of the thing at least, since he seems to be listening and reading things without really absorbing anything that's being said before flipping to a new page and talking. ]

Hey! What the hell is going on here? I've got no idea what game you're playing at, but I've got something more important I was in the middle of.

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[ Because he's the guy that kicked you into shark infested waters that one time. ]

Answer the damn question!

[oh yeah and there was a whirlpool and he hadn't yet learned how to properly swim! fun times man]

Y-yes sir! And there's no way of getting those things back, either!

[wow he's glad he's on this side of the journal]

[ He had to learn some way! ]

What does it take?

[ Because something precious isn't exactly specific. ]

[A small gulp, and then:]

A memory, or specific collection of memories, or an important item, or an ability.

[And then he pauses, recalling the Once-ler's loss.]

... but sometimes it's none of those. It can be something that the castle does to you that makes you unhappy.

[ Tsuna can't see it, but Colonnello's looking down at himself and reaching up to touch the pacifier still on his possession despite his current size and having not asked to break the curse again before showing up here.

Ah... ]

What else does it do?

You can ask for anything you want-- or small things, at least-- and the castle will give it to you. Well... I guess the proper term is "wishing".

It grants wishes?

[ After stealing things from them. How nice :| ]

[Yeah, he can hear from the tone he's not at all impressed by that attempt at compensation.]

Yeah. I don't really do it much myself.

[ Just in case he has any doubts that Colonnello's not impressed. ]

It's a worthless payoff. Does it do anything else?

Well, there's a different sort of loss, too. They're temporary and usually last about a week, but they can last several weeks, or only a few days, too. Those kinds of losses usually end up changing a person's body, or their personality. Or it can be something like the castle trapping you in a room with another person for a day...

[He reaches up and pokes at one of the rabbit ears on his head. Yeeeep, still there.]

[ Well that sure sounds... fun. :| ]

What's the point in that?

[oh, right, he probably should have mentioned this first]

The castle's fuel for its magic comes from our emotions. That's why we're brought here, and does different things like that to us.

[ !

Comforting... ]

So it fucks with us to get us to react?

Yeah, pretty much.

Hey! Why hasn't anyone done something about it already?

People have tried a lot of things, actually. One time they tried to tear down the castle, and it was back up the next day, supposedly.

[ Welp... good thing he didn't try to blow it up then. ]

It was rebuilt that quickly?!

That's what I read in a report awhile ago, anyway. I wasn't there for it.

So, we're looking for different ways to fight against it. Every once in awhile, we go on expeditions far away from the castle to try and get more information about the world, and hopefully the castle itself.

How far have you gotten away from it?

Awhile ago we went to Lastlook. It took about a week to get there from the Dead Zone's border. The Dead Zone is an area around the castle where technology and magic doesn't work.

[ He wonders if that includes various flames... it'd probably include curses if not for the fact that it already looks like that's been taken care of. ]

How far from the castle is the border?

I'm not sure, but it's probably a pretty long ways away, since we got there by using some sort of... teleportation device.

[ Ah, so they do have teleportation here. Guess that explains how they got here in the first place. ]

Where is it?

I don't know that, sorry. I haven't seen it since we went on the expedition a few months ago.

[kind of eying the page a little because he still doesn't know who you are... :|a]

[ Maybe one day you'll actually find out, Tsuna.

Though jeez Tsuna, you were on a roll and suddenly became useless. He doesn't sound impressed here. ]

Only a few months and you already forgot.