Paril kept the keep's aesthetic partly because he didn't feel the need to change it, and also because he did indeed find maintaining the same aesthetic that his predecessors did to be compelling, to an extent. He didn't do a lot of introspection as to what sort of aesthetic he himself would find compelling. 

"What's your opinion on industrial fertilizer? Do you think you'll start using it?"

"Don't think so." Partly because the crown will probably be better at growing things than—no, actually, they should check that, not just assume it. But not urgently. "Perhaps someday. Not soon."

The Lamb's instinct here is to joke about Damin just suggesting the metamorphosis ritual as an excuse to have Paril throw a party with Damin as sole attendee, but Paril was not much of a joker and it turns out to be very difficult to get the idea across in his usual speaking style. But maybe...

"A ritual as an excuse for a party," they say musingly, with a little of the very dry amusement that Paril did sometimes indulge in. "A novel idea. The guest list would of course be... short." And then, a little more seriously but also in a more friendly tone, "Either way, you'll see the castle when renovations are complete."

"I see! I think many people are waiting on seeing how industrial fertilizer changes the soil conditions long term before trying to use it themselves." He makes a thoughtful noise.

"Ah, I have cheerful rituals as excuses to throw parties, given that parties, in and of themselves, are usually cheerful. A metamorphosis ritual is a tranquil ritual and is almost always done alone." He tilts his head at Paril. 

I look forward to it!" He smiles.

"You know, your orchard would make an amazing ritual space when the trees are in bloom. Didn't you use to rent the space out for events?"

"I have done that," they agree. "And might again. Not sure if the change in decor will make the space more desirable, or less. Perhaps you can offer an opinion, after I redecorate?"

"Of course! Feel free to hit me up on the teletype network once it's done, and I can go take a look."

Damin will stay with Paril and make smalltalk unless Paril wants to pursue specific conversational topics, and then he'll want to eat.

Paril is mostly content to let the more outgoing (and better possessed of context) conversational participant steer the topic. It's... less harrowing than the Lamb expected, which is different from not being harrowing. Damin seems like an all-right friend to have, though.

(Eating in this body is still weird and feels somehow inappropriate to do in company, but the Lamb will do her very best to display none of this reaction and act exactly as Paril would have.)

Damin does not notice anything strange about Paril's behavior, or is otherwise concealing it very well.

Paril's drones serve the more 'presentable' dishes with more effort put into making them look good. There will be cake with fruit, juices, meat dumplings, and savory puff pastry.

It's sort of interesting how they're putting more effort into aesthetics when there's a guest to impress. Makes an amount of sense. The Paril gestalt is not, on the whole, sure how they feel about it, but they in any case don't feel that it should be urgently changed.

After the meal, Paril says thoughtfully, "Joking aside, it does seem appropriate to invite friends, not to witness a metamorphosis, but to greet the new self. And perhaps say goodbye to the old, if the change is drastic enough."

...wait, shit, they were just trying to say the kinds of things that the old-Paril persona would be likely to say in this scenario and they accidentally came up with something really profound and meaningful and potentially applicable to the current situation?? Help.

The drones put effort into aesthetics because there's a standing order about that!

Damin makes a curious face. "Interesting. Most other people would say they want no other people – perhaps not even drones – observing them do it, because observation constrains you. People have implicit expectations of you that are built up as they spend time with you, and they will often exert a nonzero amount of pressure for you to maintain your current shape, even if most of the time that is unintentional. It is common for people to change their name and move away if the metamorphosis ritual they did is strong enough and they want to change a lot about themselves.

There's also the reason of – if the old self has died, then there is continuity with the new self, but it's not the new self, now is it? If someone dies, I'm not going to be friends with their children just because they have some connection with them. Your take on it is really quite unusual. I suppose them coming to say goodbye to the old self makes sense, although I bet most people would still avoid that because it's likely to induce guilt, and it's already hard enough to kill the old self to make space for the new."

They spend a moment considering this.

"Many deep questions here," they conclude, after some thought. "What is death? What is self? If I undergo... refinement, carrying forward some parts of myself and abandoning others, what is the relationship between the before and the after? Maybe my perspective is strange because I have few friends, and do not feel much constrained by them."

(She's sort of uneasy about just how much they are channeling Old-Paril when they add,) "If I did make a drastic change, I think I would like you to meet my... inheritor. To see whether it suited you to be friends with them."

"Yeah, probably. I personally don't really think about it much. Not as...a conscious choice – I just don't care very much. Hah.

And yes, I'd be willing to meet your successor."

Damin leans back on the chaise longue he's sitting on and continues eating.

Paril thoughtfully takes another nibble of pastry.

"It was good to catch up with you. Would you mind if I sleep now? I don't want to wake up too late tomorrow. The food was wonderful."

They shake their head, indicating no, they do not mind. "Rest well."

Damin will thank Paril again and go to bed. The guest rooms are large enough such that all his drones can fit on the floor – Paril's drones have laid out sheets for them to sleep on.

This seems like a sensible time for Paril to also go to bed.

Suc...cess??? A potentially viable excuse to exist? A potentially viable way to present the change between Old-Paril and... New-Paril... as something that makes sense within the context of this world without introducing any tough questions about head injuries or terrifyingly powerful alien beings? And, at least as far as they can tell, they didn't fuck up at all in playing this part?

Okay, as soon as they're fully alone yes fully alone as in not observed by anything else with a brain, the crown is getting such pats. It did such a good job pretending to be an inanimate object for that whole visit!

The crown, with that odd touch of shyness that it sometimes shows around the Lamb, flows into her arms in the form of a tasseled cushion for her to hug. She hugs it very much. Good crown. So good at doing difficult important things like pretend to be inanimate. Luckily Paril's social calendar is barren enough that they shouldn't have to do that much in the medium-to-long term, once they've renovated the castle and settled the question of Converting drones into Followers and can start relaxing properly at home.

Damin will eat breakfast and make more smalltalk before going back home. It was a very Pleasant Visit.

Paril is now alone and will have no commitments basically indefinitely. [Aside from the surveyors from the tax agency, but they won't come until nine years from now.]

The drones will clean up the plates and also clean the room Damin was staying at. It wasn't dirty, but that's Standard Procedure.

Over the coming days, Paril will:

- spend an uncharacteristic amount of time actually-alone, because the Lamb still isn't willing to display obvious supernatural effects in front of their drones yet and the Crown is more comfortable when it's allowed to move
- get more accustomed to acting and speaking in the gestalt-Paril persona
- dig deep into old-Paril's memories for more context on that metamorphosis ritual
- having done so, put a lot of thought into how to adapt the basic concept to satisfy both what old-Paril's sensibilities would've been, and the Lamb's sensibilities which, having been formed in the world she came from, are highly suspicious of invoking exemplars because it smells of gods and she is so done with gods
- also put a lot of thought into architecture and interior design, and make a lot of preliminary sketches
- dither endlessly about what their Shrine statue should look like, in particular whether it should resemble the Lamb's old body or their new one or some sort of uncanny hybrid, or whether they should just give up and depict the Crown directly even though the Crown is nebulously uncomfortable with this
- try to think about what their post-metamorphosis persona should look like, how much of old-Paril to keep and how much of the Lamb to add, who the Lamb even wants to be in this new alien world, which personality traits should be omitted for being generally weird and suspicious...
- await the drones' survey of the house and its immediate environs, so they can move forward on planning the renovations