As you and Susie fall, your outfits and bodies change into their Dark World appearances. Your shoes are replaced with your sabatons and greaves, your sweater with your cuirass, pauldron, and scarf, your gloves with your gauntlets, and your skin and hair have returned to a fantastical blue.
Beside you, Susie's wrecked sneakers become boots, her oversized jacket turning into a vest and spiked bands, and her dusty purple scales and brown hair become a bright and vibrant magenta.
You land in the Dark World in a crouch. It doesn't hurt a bit, despite the distance you seemed to fall. Ahead, you see Castle Town, desolate and empty. You lead the way into town, Susie trailing behind you.
"Here we are..." She mumbles, looking around at the empty buildings.
A figure dressed in green rushes up to you from the castle, a wide smile on his face.
"Kris!!! Susie!!!" Ralsei cries, one paw raised in a wave. "It's been ever-so-long...!"
He stops a few paces away, and folds his raised arm behind his back again.
"Yeah, yeah..." Susie rolls her eyes. "It's been what, a day?"
"Oh!" He sounds a little surprised. "That is... short, isn't it...? It's just that, I've never had friends before... So I've never waited so long to see them again either!"
"Fine, guess we'll try not to let you die of loneliness," Susie says, "I bet Lancer wants to see us too, right?"
She pauses, looking around at the buildings again, brows furrowed. They seem to be the only ones in town; buildings are all desolate. There aren't any Darkners to be found besides Ralsei.
"Hey... wait a sec. Where is Lancer?" She marches a few more steps into town, pushing past Ralsei to try to find any sign of other Darkners. "Where's... everybody?"
Ralsei gives her a calm smile.
"Worry not, Susie," he assures, "You'll see them in a moment. Just wait here, alright?"
"...Okay. Hey, this better not be some kind of prank or something!"
Susie steps off to the side, leaning against a building with signage denoting it as an inn. Ralsei approaches you, and begins speaking in a hushed tone, too quiet for Susie to hear.
"Kris, I have something to ask you. I need you to return to the Light World... And go to the old classroom, to the east of the closet doors. Inside, gather everything on the ground... And bring it back here. Could you?"
You nod, and Ralsei gives you a warm smile.
(It looks like a shop, but the door is locked, and no one's inside...)
"Hell are you doing? Trying to have cake without me?" Susie shouts at you.
(...no one's looking. Hug the dummy?)
You hugged the dummy. Nothing wrong with a little extra fluffiness in your life.
(You're all hugged out.)
You did not hug the dummy. You won't take the path of fluffiness any longer.
(It seems to be locked. It may never open again.)
"*Kris, go to the old classroom and bring everything back here. It's where you returned to the Light World last time. Head east after you exit the Dark World.*" "So Ralsei, you're not gonna put your hat back on?" "Why?" he asks, "Did I look cuter before?" "Uhhhh, *no*, I just mean..." "You... you think I look cuter now?" "It was just *nicer* seeing *less* of you!" she growls, teeth bared. "You're making me blush!" "Hurry the hell up, Kris. Longer you take, longer I gotta spend with *this* weirdo." "If you're bored, Susie, we could crochet some team scarves..." Ralsei suggests. "Wait, "Kro-shay?" Isn't that the, uh, game with the hammer?" "Er... it's like knitting." "Alright." She nods, clearly still not understanding at all. "Long as I get to use the hammer."Talk
Ralsei
Susie
(Talk again?)
You return to the spot you fell into Castle Town from, and you find a beam of light shining down from above. You walk into it, and your body is lifted into the air. You wrap your arms around yourself and tuck your head in, and then...