[ A small tea table is just right there, in the middle of the plane. A solitary figure sits at it, and atop it is a chessboard. All of the pieces are scattered across the table except for Bernkastel's and the pink, blonde witch on the other side of the board. Every now and then, she'll take a sip of her tea and maybe rearrange her pieces in a certain way that only she understands, but scatters them again.

Directly in the middle of the board, Bernkastel takes the pieces of the little girl swinging a purse, and sets her in the middle. ]

You can be a stand-in piece.

[ Eventually... she notices a piece that should not be on her game board. She takes it and lifts it up behind her, as if there was someone who would take it from her.

The stars behind her have been disguising thousands of pairs of cats eyes, and finally one large cat emerges from the scenery to sink its teeth into the piece, messily gnashing it to bits until there's nothing. ]

Thank you.

[ Back to her game. ]

[If someone happens to wander towards the forest, they'll find Eithan, pacing back and forth like he's intending to wear a hole in the ground eventually. He doesn't even seem to notice he's doing it. He also doesn't seem to notice if anyone might be approaching or not, and he's... talking to himself.]

... So I just wanted to, you know, ask. I mean, I wanna know if... No. [Sigh! He clears his throat, and tries again:] Valerie Tanaka, you are the love of my life and the reason I breathe, and Iiiee.... sound like a fuckin' idiot. Dammit!

Hey, maybe I could write her a song! ... No, I already did that for her birthday. Fuck me, why's this so damn hard?!

[He sighs again, stops pacing. He opens a small black box - a ring box - and looks down at the contents: a beautiful white gold band with a diamond in the middle and two tiny garnets on either side. He smiles a little. It's a sappy, sweet smile, but it's only there for a second before he snaps the box shut and goes right back to pacing. And thinking. Out loud.]

Okay. Okay. What if I... took her to the beach? That'd be romantic, right? ... Nngh...