it's a nightmare but it's one exciting ride

--His grin drops abruptly.

"You saw that?"

of-the-night-sky

Oh no come back. "Was I to never leave my room?!"

"I--thought I would be gone before you woke up."

of-the-night-sky

"Why were you there in the first place!"

"I don't know."

of-the-night-sky

"I wanted to. I just don't know why I wanted to. To be near you like that."

of-the-night-sky

of-the-night-sky

"It is that lonely for you here? I'm not good company."

"You're plenty good company," he protests.

of-the-night-sky

"Hardly! And no company at all when I'm sleeping."

"Just being near someone is different from being alone, even if you're not interacting with them. And I like interacting with you."

of-the-night-sky

"Then you are more moronic than I'd assumed."

--He laughs.

of-the-night-sky

???

"No one's had the nerve to insult me to my face for a long time."

of-the-night-sky

He frowns. "Are you going to punish me for it?"

"Of course not. I like you."

of-the-night-sky

This is a very frustrating conversation. Chu Wanning scoffs. "I've been asking your residents about their transformations, and the binding. Did you also experience cold wind? Do you remember being bound?"

"No. I don't remember anything for several years before I woke up here, already in this shape."

of-the-night-sky

"Does the shape feel natural to you?"

"Hmm." He inspects one of his clawed, furred hands. "It's hard to say. It's so difficult to separate the shape from the circumstances I find myself in. On the one hand, I despise being trapped. On the other hand, nobody in this castle ever goes hungry. I know better than to take that for granted." He flexes his hand. "I suppose I do. I don't always like it. But it's not distracting, when I'm thinking about something else."

of-the-night-sky

"Do you sense or possess any of the castle's magic? It sounds as though you were involved with the others' bindings."

"I can ask the castle to do things, including binding others to it. I can't directly sense anything, or I wouldn't need to use the mirror to find the others. I can't tell the difference between when the castle does or doesn't do what I ask besides in seeing the effects."

of-the-night-sky