A tour of King estate

As tempting as using Tori's body to learn new ways to sleep with others may have been, you preferred to keep Tori all to yourself. In a weird way, maybe you were getting slivers of jealousy that people were staring at Tori's body, even if you drove it around? You felt like you wanted Tori to keep Tori all to yourself now! She seemed to appreciate your stance, even if it meant you and her would have to just stick to your own two hands for now--which wasn't really a problem, there was still plenty to touch! It was more that if you and Tori wanted to use her body with others, you would have to find another opportunity in the future. That seemed like it owuld be easy enough to do.

After another very good night's sleep--Tori's body indeed felt wonderful to lay around in bed within--you were up and about again, this time with a very specific plan in mind. On this day, the King mansion would be open for tours, as it had started doing every week for the past couple years. While the lone heir to the King fortune, Emilia King, had kept her doors closed for years, she shed her reclusive ways and altered her mansion into essentially a museum of artifacts and objects said to be tied to various supernatural and occult energies. Like many, you'd originally thought she was simply creating a historical museum filled with inert objects loosely tied to myth, but the bracelet on your arm told you otherwise.

Hopping off of the bus that stopped outside the estate, you purchased a ticket at the gate and entered the mansion when it first opened. You thought you would have free roam of the mansion, expecting nobody would be interested in looking at a bunch of dusty old trinkets or whatever. Instead, you had to wade through a dense crowd of people to even reach the first cluster of relics in the entrance hall, listening to staff describing the history behind a few random objects and the magical myths attached to them.

I can't believe that a place like this is so packed on a Thursday morning, of all days, you thought, grumbling a little to yourself. It's not even a bunch of field trip groups or something! Oh no... what if Emilia sent out thousands of magic objects and everyone's here to get her to take them back!

Tori couldn't help but giggle a little, interrupting one of the tour guides who was telling a very somber story about a statue of a lion that protected a castle from an invading army. You cleared your throat and immediately excused yourself to wander the mansion further.

The mansion's main atrium sprawled out in front of you once you found a pocket of space to stand in and evaluate the layout. Rooms all along the first floor had themed names, filled with collections of objects with similar magical properties. The first door to your left almost overflowed with objects related to ghostly possessions and astral projection, while further down the hall in the 'Dullahan Room', blades and other artifacts theoretically could painlessly detach and reattach limbs. Emilia's collection--of which only a fraction was even on display, apparently--seemed to be filled with ancient things from all over the world meant to alter and control bodies and minds.

Don't you think it's sort of ironic that this is her collection? Tori asked you. Emilia King is notoriously injury prone, and her whole collection, if it's as real as this bracelet, could put her in a new form. So, why does she remain unchanged?

You shrugged, wandering through the exhibits further. Possessing, swapping, fusing, transforming, controlling, altering... Tori had a point. All of those would have given Emilia an entirely different trajectory in her physical reality! And yet she was just shown on the local news in a wheelchair yet again. Something didn't seem to add up, if any of these were real at all! You hoped to just ask her yourself, recalling that Emilia occasionally lectured on history on-site, but everywhere you looked, all you saw was other staffers talking about centuries-old totems and necklaces and swords and whatever else.

"Excuse me," you asked at a passing staffer. "I have some questions about a magic bracelet, can you--" the staffer hurried along to somewhere else, unable to stop. Fine, he was probably hurrying to give a tour. More attempts to flag down someone who worked for the King estate failed as well, and you sighed in frustration.

You walked to an info kiosk, admittedly something you probably should have just done at the start. "Hi, uh. I have something I need to talk to Emilia King about, she knows my friend's ex-boyfriend apparently, and..."

The grey-haired woman behind the kiosk desk burst out in laughter. "Cute, as if I haven't heard that one before, dear. Emilia King's very busy, she won't have any live Q&A until Sunday. Tickets are $250 and can be bought at the door."

That's no good! You weren't going to wait three more days when you were here now! "No, I really have a problem! Maybe someone here could help me with my bracelet? The magic it has is--"

Going from laughter to a suddenly unamused frown, the woman at the kiosk shook her head as she realized you weren't going to let up and ask her a question about something like where the bathrooms were. "The King estate's curated displays are for historical and educational purposes only, this isn't some magic shop regardless of what rumors you may have heard. King estate staff are not here to appraise jewelry your boyfriend purchased at a yard sale and became convinced is haunted, or whatever your story might be. And before you think you can go shake your cute ass at some of our staff members in hopes that you can sweet talk them into some behind-the-scenes tour of the mansion or something, security will remove you from this premise faster than you can blink. Step aside, please."

Growling in frustration, you storm off. None of this had been helpful at all! Although, you did find one of the stories about the machine that would supposedly turn people into ghosts to fight some war pretty interesting. It just felt like you were tricked into learning history instead of getting help with your problems!

You entered a room known as the Menagerie, filled with random items of various enchantment. You casually glanced through the collection, but you stopped in front of one glass case that caught your eye, not for what was inside but what appeared to be missing! The placard under the empty display listed the missing object as the Countercurse Bracelet.

You pulled up your sleeve, comparing the placard's description to the object on your wrist. the dials, the symbols... it all matched. This had to be it!

I have an idea, you thought at Tori. Are you okay if I make a giant scene?

Oh, please do! Tori responded. Everything else has felt as exciting as doing history homework. So, let's either do something insane or go get a drink, though I hope one of those options leads to Emilia.

You glanced around the nearby area, needing something big and heavy. The fire extinguisher that you yanked off the wall seemed just right for your needs! You swung the butt of the heavy metal canister into the glass, feeling pain radiate through your arms when the glass didn't shatter. Of course a billionaire would buy some really high-quality glass for her displays... you tried again, swinging harder, cracking the glass but being unable to break all the way through. The cracks obstructed the view of what's inside at least... it would have to do. You turned to the camera behind you, and held up your wrist. "Look! It's mine now! Suck it, Emilia!"

The plan was indeed insane, as you were basically pretending to steal from Emilia in broad daylight, but Tori cheered on your stupid idea from inside. This was an idea that you'd have expected from her when you were kids, so you could at least say that Tori inspired you in a way. You ran out of the Menagerie room, shoving your way past other guests, trying your best to sell your act and spawn enough chaos before security could see that you never actually got into the display--that might be the difference between getting someone to examine the bracelet seriously versus being kicked off the premises on the assumption that you were trying to pull some sort of scam.

You made it all the way to the front hall before three security staffers seemed to converge on you at the same time, slamming you to the ground and holding you down with a painful grip. Your head hurt, it felt like you may have sustained a black eye, and the wind had been knocked out of you on contact with the ground, but the forceful takedown seemed to achieve just what you hoped--instead of escorting you to the door, security took you to a door with an Employees Only sign on it.

Into the unknown we go, Tori mused. That was fun, though. Maybe they can use one of those magic knives to just cut our arm off now!

You shuddered a little bit as you were led to an elevator, descending to one of the mansion's basement levels. Let's hope they start by just knowing the combination to open it, yeah? Though, this response seems like a bit more **** than I expected...