The morning was cool, far too cold with the heat dissipating throughout the universe. So lonesome that even the warmth from her own body left her - not that she was ever lonely! She was far too busy, far too adventurous, far too courageous to be lonely! And in the dungeon, there were so many monsters that she didn't even have time to think about her own silly feelings. 

She was tired of feeling the feelings that made her feel bad.

Cold was a feeling, but not - external, not internal, and definitely not pleasant. So, she supposed, it was also a feeling that made her feel bad, and the best thing to do would be to head back into the dungeon and feel many more things! The first level caverns were never warm, but they were also never cold. There was simply too much life to be cold.

As she made her way towards the entrance, she heard a voice behind her, calling her name. Probably nothing to do with her. She was fine, she was good, she was ready to go! So she ignored the voice until she saw that her sister was suddenly directly in front of her. "Richard," Wyrd spat, apparently exasperated. "Can we please just talk? I haven't seen you in... ages."

She should have run faster, should have plowed through the flesh of her family. This, too, was not a feeling she enjoyed feeling. "Sorry, got to go, we can talk at home later. Bye!" The bay - now with a bit of spicy pangare - danced around Wyrd, refusing to even allow a touch that might cause friction to slow their separation. She almost didn't - and therefore, refused to acknowledge - when her sister called out, "I won't be there. I haven't lived in your house for months." It probably wasn't important. After all, Richard had important things to do. She was hungry!

Hungry... for adventure. The mushroom creatures were surprisingly filling, and the thought of eating anything else soon made her feel slightly queasy. Even if she had found that some varieties of slime tasted like sugared apples! It was difficult to tell which ones, though, but it was worth the risk. Not all of the other flavors were bad.

But no. No. She wasn't here to eat, but to learn more about the dungeon! Find new paths, chart new maps (though the maps never seemed accurate when she'd venture down again), maybe even find evidence of her par- nope! But she could rescue someone, especially if they yelled very loudly and it didn't sound like someone who wanted her to face any problems that she definitely, truly, and really did not have.

A sudden clanking brought her out of her own head, which was an incredibly welcome change. She stared, deep eyes wide, as a changron scuttled across the mossy floor, catching and sparking of rocks and bumps. That was unusual, and delicious, and possibly haunted. If she got haunted, she'd have many new problems and would be able, or rather, be required to pay much more attention to her new problems than her old! It was brilliant! Even if it did, in fact, mean that she didn't enjoy her new problems... No matter. They weren't yet problems, so the old ones (that didn't actually exist) were better to get rid of.

On closer inspection, however, it did not appear to be cursed. Well, drat it all to the cursed expanse of a wide open sky. Instead, there was a crab. And doubly drat because she wasn't hungry, but she'd never tried such an interesting creature! It was large, and likely tasted very different from apples. Unless, perhaps, it DID taste like apples and she was only thinking of sugared apples, which was surely NOT its flavor.

She prodded at it, giggling to herself - in a very strong, confident way, of course - and she was certain it was playing back, and not just getting annoyed. But there were other things to see, other places to go. She was still a bit cold from the sunny morning - perhaps she'd find a hotspring somewhere deep inside the caverns?

And maybe.

Just maybe

She'd get haunted by the water.