The freaky concierge mentioned a museum, you remark as if trying to decide where to go for lunch, wanna start there?

“Gathering intel on the enemy, are we?” Replies Tzah-Tzie with a bemused grin. “Only if we can make a stop in the gift shop~”

“Hey, yea, that sounds fun!” Volka adds, bouncing on her heels! “Don’t know much about Umberal, actually! Ooh, and we can get souvenirs for the other Lamplighters!”

Rezalith tosses her frown into the pile of responses. “Whats’a museum?”

That settles it, you declare as you slap your fist into your palm! Field Trip time! All aboooaaaaaarrrdd!

Your pals have already teleported away by the time a quiet ‘choo choo…’ leaves your lips. Well then. Focusing hard on your destination, you start to feel the invisible hands wrapped around you tighten the minute the museum comes to mind! Moments later you feel your consciousness FLING across space and time like a ball out of a pitching machine at the boardwalk… and when you open your eyes once more, you find yourself…

… well, in the dark. Whatja expect?

”BOARD THIS INCLINEWAY FOR THE UMBERAL HISTORY MUSEUM!”

The scratchy voice high above your head takes you by surprise, as do most things, but what’s even more surprising is the crowds… or lack thereof! For a History Museum the outside seems pretty quiet… must be a workday?

“Up here, Rook!”

Volka and Rezzie are already halfway up the incline-thingy by the time you regain your senses–the former looking like a dog about to go to the park, the latter about to go to the Vet…

“C’mere, you!”

A small claw snatches your hand as your favorite fuzzball gives you a wink and tugs you onto the moving ramp! “Gotta’ stick with a buddy when you’re at the museum! Wouldn’t want you running off and getting lost, now would we?”

What, you say with a scoff and a smile as you give TT’s claw a squeeze, is the Museum Monster gonna get you?

“Mom used to a Skog would,” The Durher answers with a hushed tone and an embarrassed look on her face, “But looking back I realize how rotten that sounds...”

You sneak a glance at Volka–the tall terror gleefully filling Rezalith in on what a museum is, much to the latter’s amusement. Did her parents take her to the museum a lot when she was young?

“Not enough,” TT shrugs as she presses her cheek against your hip, making it a little hard for you to walk, “But we went on a lot of little trips. Outings. Errands. Hells, you’d hardly believe it… a pack of Durher kits scrabbling down the street after mom, shouting and screaming…”

A long, almost nostalgic sigh leaves the girl’s lips as the image settles in your skulls. “Just one of her little slivers of freedom, I guess. And ours.”

She almost sounds like she misses it. Tzah-Tzie bristles.

>CONTD.