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Kris steps through the doorway to be greeted by another swan boat gently floating on the river of acid.
“Not again,” Kris thought as they felt the force of the soul tug them towards the boat. They got on and awkwardly sat with Ralsei. Being alone with Ralsei always felt weird. It was not that Kris didn’t like Ralsei, he was the kindest person you could ever find, but something felt odd about the way he spoke. When he spoke to Kris it felt less like he was speaking at Kris but more like he was speaking through them. Not the worst thing Kris had to deal with in the past two days but certainly discouraged them from wanting to spend time sitting there with him. After a few moments of drifting across the river Ralsei began to speak.
“Kris… hey, Kris,” he pauses for a moment, “ Is it s-strange to say, it's nice spending time alone with you like this?”
Kris sits there slightly stunned. Not the opening statement they expected from him. They knew that they had done a lot together over the past two days but this felt strangely intimate for that little time. Kris opens their mouth to voice this but as they do other words come out of their mouth.
“I feel the same”
No No! NO! They should be used to this by now, the lack of control, the mysterious entity controlling them against their will but each time it felt just as violating. Why was this happening? Why did some entity come over and feel like they could toy with them like they were just a plaything. It wasn’t even like they were malevolent in any way. This force had made friends with people and chosen the best way out of things but still it felt wrong. It never felt like it was always safe with the force controlling them, like something could go wrong at any moment, especially, for some odd reason, around Noelle. This train of thought was interrupted by Ralsei again.
“I’m happy hearing you say that Kris… When you and I first met I… I was so nervous about first impressions. I even hid my face so you wouldn’t see” Ralsie stops to take a breath. “How do I even become a friend?
Despite the strange situation Kris sympathized with Ralsei. They had always been seen as the weird kid. The only friend they really felt they had their age was Noelle and sometimes that felt off. Sure they hung out with Azzy and Dess but the age gap always made it so the connections could never be as strong as other people's friendships and besides they were both gone now.
Ralsei resumed, “All I have to do is be nice… is what a thought. But I’m starting to realize being friends is more than that isn’t it? Susie, she sometimes isn’t nice at all.”
And Susie, Susie was nice and Kris really liked her but it was hard. They had never actually interacted with her without the entity controlling each movement. If they were somehow able to permanently break free from the control would Susie even like the real them?
“She’s selfish, she’s rude, she’s sarcastic but it isn't wonderful that she’s her. Is what I started thinking today. And of course it’s nice that you’re you”
“But I’m not,” Kris longed to say. “I’m not, all you know of me is a puppet, a performance put on but some unseen controller” Instead more foreign words came out of their mouth “It’s nice that Ralsei is Ralsei”
“H…Huh??? No one’s, no one’s ever said that to me before. I… I… I mean everything’s a first for me but hearing it from you, It means a lot. Haha”
And here it was again, the feeling of speaking through someone. Kris knew what Ralsei was saying was genuine but it again just felt like he was saying it to the air.
“I just wonder what being Ralsei-like even is? Sorry, haha I got off track. Let’s just enjoy the boat ride. Haha,” Ralsei laughs as he nervously shifts in his seat.
They slowly float along in silence till the path opens up again. It leads into a strange room with a bunch of houses. Suddenly Roulx bursts in and demands to battle. Kris feels their body be pulled as they get into a fighting stance. Fights were always weird, there were so many concepts like TP or the soul dodging bullets that felt so abstract and strange in the world but at the same time were easy to understand. Was this some aspect of the dark world or caused by the act of being controlled? There was no more time to think as the fight was quickly over and Roulx started being petrified. This scared Kris for a second. According to Ralsei this could be reversed if the Darkener was brought back to castle town but some part of the was still worried it might not work. The swan boat drifted by as they both watched him lay there hopelessly. After a little bit further down they came to another stop
“Looks like the ride’s almost over Kris, O-oh there’s a camera! Should we um… pose?!”
They wait for a second and then Kris feels the tug again. The soul wants to hug Ralsei but Kris tries to resist.
“No, I know you might like him but I don’t want to do this” Kris thinks. They try to resist but the pain starts to creep back. This familiar sting appears whenever they would try to “disobey” the controlling force. This pain creeped out from the center of their body till it reached every inch of it. It was a sharp, tense, and that felt like all of their muscles were tightened and tiny needles were poking every part of their body. After a few seconds of struggling they eventually gave in. As they stepped in to hug Ralsei pain stopped and tension released as if all the pressure forcing them to hug Ralsei disappeared. “Save your energy for more important fights” Kris thought to themself as they went through the motions and the picture was snapped.
“D.. Did it really take a picture of that!?” Ralsei exclaimed, “Um… lets keep going”
The boat continues moving along as you both hear Roulx shout angrily about not being able to see the photo. Finally the boat docks up at the otherside.
“That was a nice boat ride, wasn’t it Kris?”
No, no it wasn’t every part of it was miserable. It was just another useless ride with some stupid entity controlling their actions. You know what would be nice, if I could make my own decisions and could have some freedom instead of being dragged into these fake friendships that I have no control over '' Kris thinks. They want to scream. They want to scream and shake until someone can recognize what they are feeling. That they are real in some sense and not just the facade put on by this puppeteer but their body stays silent as it moves onto the next part of the castle.