Round 2

The task this time around was simple. To search the strange oceanic labyrinth that was the Right Atria. Allegory hadn’t understood what that meant, at first, until they arrived, and saw that oceanic labyrinth was indeed an apt descriptor. There were two large ships docked, and the water moved back and forth like tides would in any other ocean. Yet the whole place was inside, surrounded by tall stone walls and ceiling, decorated with various mosaics. They couldn’t even imagine the scale of the whole place if this was just the entrance.

All of the people who showed up were split into two groups, one for each of the ships. Allegory didn’t particularly care who was where, just getting onto their assigned ship, but the wisp, Ciel, had made himself particularly hard to ignore, taking a lead of the group, and directing everyone in managing the ship. Something Allegory could have tolerated, had he not kept bothering them with attempts to talk. Eventually, they reached a point in the labyrinth where the ship could not go any further, and the group had to split off into the smaller rowboats the ship carried. And Ciel had decided to go with them, instead of any of the others he had been getting along with. 

Which led Allegory to where they were now.

The towering halls were silent, save quiet splashes from the rowing the pair were doing. Or, well, that is how Allegory would prefer their situation be described. Instead…

“And then- you won’t believe this - the man threw it straight at my head! The disrespect of some people these days,” Ciel laughed, before continuing on into an entirely different story. This had been going on for the past thirty minutes. They’d been keeping track. And he still just kept rambling, despite their complete lack of response.

“Really, the job requires so much more paperwork than you might expect. So I spent the whole day in the office when…” Hm. Allegory does have to admit, the walls are very nicely decorated. The stonework is very nice, clearly a lot of time must have been put into them, and-

“Oh, and how about you? I do apologize for taking over the conversation so much. You must have some stories of your own to share!”

… Allegory turns around to see Ciel, with that ever present blinding grin on his face. “Bit of a bad habit of mine, I’m afraid!” Ciel chuckles. “Back when I was-”

“Will you just SHUT. UP.”

Their voice echoed through the hallways as the last tether of their patience finally snapped. But finally, blissfully, Ciel was silent, just facing their direction with his smile dimmed.

“I don’t care about your workplace, or your silly stories or whatever else it is you’re trying to do here,” they said, and pointed their staff directly at Ciel. “I am not here to make friends, Ciel. I am here to solve this mystery, and earn the reward so I may learn the secrets of life and death for myself.”

Somehow, this made his stupid smile brighten up again. “Oh! Well, if that’s what you’re looking for, let me tell you, I’ve been spending-”

Allegory shoved their staff directly into where Ciel’s throat might be, had Ceil been a traditional humanoid. Which, unfortunately, he wasn’t, or it would have been much easier for them to shut the wisp up. “If I hear one more word out of your mouth I am throwing you off of this ship and completing this expedition on my own.”

Ciel threw his arms up in a surrendering motion, then fumbled to not drop the oars he was holding. “Noted!”

He glared at Ciel, before they continued rowing down the labyrinth.

Finally, there was blissful silence. They could focus on rowing, and looking for any indication of where they should go next, without the chatterbox distracting them.

“But…”

Allegory whipped around again to face Ciel. Could he not shut up for five seconds?!

“Woah there, calm down! Why don’t you just listen to me on this one thing, and then I can be quiet, alright?”

They didn’t even have a chance to respond before he continued.

“Now, you say you’re not here to make friends - I can get that! You’ve got your own goal to focus on, that’s fine.. But!” Ciel pointed a finger at them. “That doesn’t mean you should brush off everyone else. Even if they’re not your friends, there’s still value in working together to get an insurmountable problem done. After all, I’m sure you couldn’t have piloted the other ship on your own!”

“I could have found a way.” Allegory scoffed. “And besides, working with other people…” They trailed off. Ciel didn’t seem to be looking at him anymore - though it was hard to tell, with Ciel’s lack of eyes. Instead, Ciel had been looking somewhere to their left. They craned their head around, but, infuriatingly, whatever Ciel was looking at was in their blind spot.

“What are you even doing-”

“Look out!”

The reason for Ciel’s shouting quickly became apparent. Something large splashed out of the water where they couldn’t see. Then another splash as a tentacle stretched out from the water, within their view this time. Allegory grimaced. This thing looked big, it would probably take something potent to take this thing out.

He quickly started rifling through his cloak, keeping a careful eye on the tentacles writhing as he searched.

There. An older brew of theirs, though checking the date scrawled on the label shows that it should be as potent as they need. They barely even remember making it, just a feverish haze of throwing together some of the most toxic substances they had ever encountered, and then privately vowing to only use it in emergencies.

Like the one the current situation was shaping up to be. Allegory grabbed it, uncorked it, and attached it to the bottom of their staff, then detached the hourglass. Ciel meanwhile, was giving them a strange look.

They blinked, and he gestured towards their staff. Allegory huffed. “Oh. It’s poison. Potent enough to take something of that size,” Here, they pointed to one of the tentacles with their staff, “down.”

“...And you can hit it from here?” Ciel said. Allegory cocked their head. Ciel gestured towards their staff. “With that. It doesn’t look particularly long ranged!”

“No, it’s a melee weapon.” They shook their head. “It’s served me perfectly well as is.

“Then how exactly do you plan to hit it from here?”

At this, Allegory fell silent. Ciel did have a point. The tentacles were too far away for them to hit, and even if they could get closer, that would have just risked the tiny boat getting torn apart. What ranged options they did have too easily risked the both of them. And swimming was… almost entirely out of the question.

As they pondered the issue, the boat started shaking. Then-

CRASH!

A third tentacle rose out from the labyrinth. Right from under the two of them, wrapping around the boat they were in, and lifting it from up out of the water. And what could have been the perfect opportunity to jab the thing was completely lost as the boat started to tip, and Allegory slipped and lost their balance, nearly tumbling off the edge of the boat.

It was only pure luck that kept them from falling off completely, but they were barely hanging onto the edge, and with how slick it was, they weren’t sure they would hang on much longer. They had some potions stored that could help, but the likelihood of Allegory being able to grab them before falling and being at the mercy of the beast and the water… Still, perhaps if they managed to-

thwap!

His musings were interrupted by rope hitting his mask. What could have…

“Here! Grab on, I'll lift you up.

It was Ciel. He had tossed the rope down, and was grinning at Allegory. Of course it was him, he was the only other person here. The offer still surprised them, though.

They had to move quick. As the giant tentacle shifted again, they let go of the boat, grabbing onto the rope to hang from that instead.

Ciel sharply inhaled as Allegory moved their weight onto the rope. “Woah- you're a lot heavier than I expected. What are you even carrying under that cloak?”

“Just lift me up!” They snapped, and he felt Ciel pulling up the rope.

As soon as Allegory was close enough, they grabbed their staff, and then hoisted themself up onto the marginally more stable part of the boat. Thankfully, their staff was undamaged, though they’d want to make sure it didn’t rust over later.

“It’s certainly close enough now.” They smirked, knowing Ciel wouldn’t see it. Allegory stabbed the tentacle, holding the button on their staff to give the thing a lethal injection of poison.

“Oh dear.”

The tentacle clearly reacted, at first just twitching, then starting to move more violently, rocking both of them with it. The boat was starting to creak dangerously.

“Hold on!”

Ciel wrapped an arm around them. Allegory tried to protest, but they were quickly interrupted as he put his other hand on the boat and then did… something? Between one moment and the next, the boat was gone, and the two were falling towards the water.

“Hey! You got something to slow us?!”

The water was rapidly approaching. Allegory fumbled through their supply, grabbing and pulling out one of their less harmful potion bombs - this one thankfully pre-loaded with a slow falling potion.

They crunched it in their hands, the resulting potion mist slowing their rapid descent into a gentle glide. Ciel was focused on the water still, and the sea monster seemed to be slowing down, starting to sink into the waters.

“And… now!”

The rowboat reappeared beneath them, and the two gently landed on it.

Allegory blinked in surprise. “... Oh.”

Ciel was brushing his hands off. “Whew! Good work with that potion! Maybe next time wait a little before stabbing the giant sea monster holding you up though. That could have ended badly!” He was waggling his finger at them.

“I… you…” They stared at Ciel, before ducking their head down, focusing on the damage done to the boat. Luckily, most of it was trivial to repair with a few simple spells.

“... Thank you.” They murmured.

“What was that? I couldn’t quite make it out.”

“I said shut up. I need to focus.”