it's nice to see your smile, bonbon!

so, as it turns out, there’s more than one park! this one is more overgrown than the other one, and lolly’s ears immediately perk up at the better possibility of finding bugs. the sun catches on the trees and grass a little differently here, too, and it’s really pretty! she decides she’d like to come here when the sun is coming up or going down to really get the whole picture.

there’s a pond, too, but she can tell it’s only for decoration. fishing would probably be inappropriate. still, the fish are pretty, so lolly hangs out at the water’s edge for a little while to watch them.

 when she’s had enough of that, she gets up and starts making her way back to the park entrance. she’s easily distracted by the path of brightly-colored cobblestones, however, and stops to hop from one to the next.

lolly’s attention is captured once again by a very tall woman walking around the flower gardens just off the trail.

lolly has already spent a good bit of time in and around a city, so there’s really nothing stopping her from readjusting. even if there’s castles and magic and things aren’t exactly suited to a cat of her small stature.

the southern sector is supposed to be home to a floral-themed cafe, and while lolly feels a little out of her depth when it comes to being in fancy places, she wants to check it out. it’ll probably be cute!

well. she isn’t wrong. the only problem is she can’t see over the counter or read the menu very well. too anxious to disturb the staff when she doesn’t know what she wants yet, lolly pads over to a young woman seated at the nearest table. she looks nice, so hopefully she’ll be helpful.

when lolly thinks about an island getaway, a magical walled-in city isn’t the first thing that comes to mind. it’s not that she’s bothered — far from it, actually. but now she has to redo the whole month she’d planned out in her journal, which is kind of a bummer.

as she walks around, the first thing she notices is how much bigger everyone and everything is than what she’s used to, tips of her ears only reaching the midsections of most people she passes. weird. maybe they all ate really well as kids. lolly strolls along without thinking much about where she’s headed, and eventually ends up with grass under her paws. huh.

this is a pretty big park to just have in the middle of a city. neat!

she pulls out the old bug net she’s been carrying since she’d first left for the airport, and starts looking around with intent. if this place is magic, maybe there are magic bugs she’s never seen before!

and... there! hovering around a patch of flowers near a bench is a butterfly with a strange purple sheen to its wings. lolly starts creeping up on it slowly when —

someone plops unceremoniously onto the bench, and the butterfly is quick to make its escape before she can try to catch it. she makes a disappointed little huff.