Part 2

From Marguave, she took a stagecoach out of town. After another hour of riding, Lorette could discern the mighty yet melodic toll of ancient church bells. That's when she knew they had arrived at the capital of Dieudonne. Lorette's face was glued to the window, and so was Nikpmup's. From there they got an excellent view of the castle. It was difficult for her to comprehend its sheer size from a distance. From up close, she couldn’t believe it was a single building. The ladies-in-waiting assigned to her showed her around the labyrinthean palace, discovering new ways for a building to be resplendent and baroque behind every turn.
The guardsman had of course volunteered to carry the luggage to her room. He was ever intent on showing no weakness whatsoever, no matter what. But so heavy was that suitcase, he feared eventually he would succumb to its might.
Just one floor away from the room. That's when his arms, legs and everything gave up. With the strained grump of someone who had held it in for ages, he slumped the bag onto a nearby shelf. Only for a moment. Just so he could breathe out. No one was around to see him during his time of vulnerability, when he wiped his forehead with his hat.
The shelf, being part of a trolley, was dutifully rolled away by a humble page just doing his job. The guardsman didn’t even notice. By the time his breather had finished, he found another purple suitcase hidden behind the trolley. This time, he found it surprisingly light. As it turned out, that break must have been exactly what he needed.

Once Lorette had finished supper with her ladies-in-waiting, she went back to her room. She looked Nikpmup right into his black hollow eyes.
“You and I need to have a talk.” She stated.
“What’s up?”
“Your little crush with Baguetta is cute and all, but we’re professionals here. All right? She's part of our act, and I expect us all to work together as equals. If your advances make it hard for her then we’ve got ourselves a problem.”
“Hey, since when have my moves been anything but smooth?” Nikpmup asked.
“Look, I’m asking you nicely to back away. Just for a little moment.”
“Ah, what do ya know?” Nikpmup spat, “Yer just mad cause if we do get it on, it’s you who gotta give Baguetta’s lilypad the handy treatment!”
“That’s not the point!” Lorette barked, “But also, yes. That’s definitely a concern. Eww…”
Nikpmup sighed, “Fine. I won’t make a move. But I can’t make any promises our lady will be able to resist all of this.”
He gestured to the torn cloak over Lorette’s hand.
“...I’m willing to take that risk.”

With that they went to the purple suitcase on her bed, and opened it up. It was full of clothes.
“...Baguetta?” Lorette asked, increasingly worried. She flipped through the clothes, in a vain attempt to find the giant sea monster. But not a hint.
“Whoops. Looks like there’s been a mixup.”
Lorette dropped herself onto the bed, “Oh… Oh no. You gotta be kidding me. Are you saying that our monster friend is on the loose in the castle?”
“Don’t get yer knickers in a twist darlin’!” Nikpmup cried, “Someone somewhere out there’s gotta be missing a purple suitcase too! There’s gotta be some kinda clue here!”
The monster puppet went over the pile of clothes, finding an embroidered handkerchief.
“Aha!” he waved it around like a victory flag, letting it sway before Lorette, “Looks like we found our culprit!”
She read it out, “Adrian duRaimes. With any luck, he hasn’t gotten the lock open yet. Let’s go!”

After asking around the maids, Lorette stormed down the second floor into the corridor, where under one door a blot of black goo pooled up.
“...We’re too late.” Lorette clasped her hand over her mouth.
“Not until the fat lady sings!” Nikpmup announced, “Let’s break down the door!”

Lorette stormed into the door, which opened the moment she impacted it with her shoulder and she crashed onto the floor. Right onto a pool of ink.
When she looked up, she saw a man dressed in a torn black cloak, with his pumpkin shaped helmet on the floor next to the bed. He was wrapped up in countless tentacles lying on the mattress together with a sexy squid lady, her hands and appendages all over him.
“...Aw, you gotta be kiddin’ me!” Nikpmup yelled.

Lorette scrambled to her feet, dusting off the ink on her skirt but it just got on her hands too. She instead decided to close the door.
“I think I’m in heaven…” The viscount mused, pelted with black lipstick marks all over his face, neck chest... everywhere. They came from her lips, and from her suckers.
Lorette sighed in relief, “Thank goodness… So, uh… Mr Viscount… You’re not going to tell on your heavenly muse, are you?”
He picked up the pumpkin helmet and shoved it over his head, “Sellin’ out my babe? Darlin’, I’m not even gonna dignify that with an answer!”

“Isn’t he the most lovely darling that ever was? Oooh, I just can’t help myself…”
“...Looks like a grade-A dork to me.” Nikpmup grumbled.
“So… We’re still up for our act tomorrow?”
“Of course.” Baguetta said with a grin, “But I absolutely insist my new lover is with me. We will be in the box together, having our own little playtime.” She picked up the box, no larger than a shoebox.
“That thing? Really now?” The Viscount huffed, “Seems a bit cramped!”
“I prefer… Intimate.” Baguetta said with a wink.
“Yowza!”

Lorette left the room, with Nikpmup slumped on her hand.
“Hey… I know it’s tough, Nikpmup. But you’ll always have me.” Lorette said reassuringly.
“Yeah… I know… “ Nikpmup grumbled.
“And hey,” She shone a smile at him, “There’s still plenty of fish in the sea.”
“...I’m not even gonna dignify that with an answer.”