#Cooki's Writing

[legendary-cookies]

I've been working on this on and off for like a long time and honestly I kinda hate it now, but this is like a revamp of these but with the Beasts too lmao

This also has a headcanon I have of if the Legends had virtues like the Ancients and Beasts

Also yes I'm aware Fire and Moon might fit more if they switched but I have lore reasons leave me alone

[ghostbsuter]

There was a teen in the cave.

A teen no one knows and looks like he could be a wayne, stands in the cave.

"Actually, I'm a wayne." He says with a shrug.

Bruce, Batman, carefully thinks of the implication.

"Not yet," The teen, Danny, doesn't say anything. Simple smiles. "You're not a wayne, yet. You will be. But not yet."

Then Bruce sighs, dropping the batman mask in order to take in the teen.

"Does future me know of the time travel?"

Dannys smile grows into a grin, deciding to take pity on the man. "You, grandbat, have..." He makes a vague gesture. "Theories, which none of your children ever confirmed."

The bat's mind short-circuits at the choice of words

Dick is sputtering incomprehensibly, there are Baffled expression all around.

Because.

Because that child isn't Bruce's, but one of theirs.

"Who is it?" Jason demands, hand clenching his gun uselessly.

Danny continues to smile, a hint of mischief now peeking out.

The cave is filled with theories, some yell, some sob, yet all eyes leave danny.

All but one pair.

She had known the moment his body language switched just enough for her to read.

She had known the moment he disappeared before the clan.

Had known when his hand found hers, shoulders bumping.

Her heart clenches, throat dry and memories of her childhood flooding to mind.

So she asks, voice soft and hesitant.

"Am I a good mother?"

And danny looks up at cass, adoration and pride laid out plain for her to see and accept.

"You're the best."

And so they both watch the clan together, silent and comfortable.

(Cass doesn't question when she finds him, how and why. All she knows is that she's more attentive when out on patrol, looking and waiting.)

(This is how Cassandra Cain-Wayne returns one night from patrol, a child, barely out of toddler stage and clinging to her form.)

(This is how the Batclan officially meets one Daniel James Cain-Wayne, freshly washed and clothed, a cookie in hand and hiding shyly behind Cass.)

(When they meet, all they say is "Welcome home, danny," and "Good to see you again.", Danny doesn't necessarily get it, but that's okay. Maybe his new mom will explain it one day when he's bigger.)

[jellywalker-apocalypse]

"When YOUR kingdom is the only truly safe haven in all of Earthbread — how could you POSSIBLY know that your OH-SO-DEAR FRIENDS are PERFECTLY SAFE AND SOUND?! That's right, Vanilly!~ YOU CAN'T. So allow yours truly to demonstrate some possible ... Outcomes of what may be happening as we speak!"

[thelocalmuffin]

I am now allowed to post my recipe I created for @guidingstarsfz! I did a cookie based on Mercedes's love of sweets and lavender!

Leftovers are open! If you want a copy of the zine, get it here.

Thank you to the marvelous @arikabooboo for doing the spot art for this recipe! It's always wonderful to work with you!

[snail-noodle]

"little cookie..."

you gasped as the giant form of the beast gently, oh so gently, lifted you up with the palm of her hand.

your brain was screaming at you to run, to hide, but you were frozen in place.

opening her eyes slightly, she took the time to look at you. taking in every little detail that you had.

all you could do was tremble in her palm.

as if satisfied, she closed her eyes once more before bringing you slightly closer to her chest, ignoring your gasp from the sudden movement.

"a cookie as precious as you should be here, with me."

she looked down at the three other cookies who were with you. her face showing disapproval at the three who started to take out their weapons.

one of them was wielding a sword.

half of her stolen soul jam embedded within it.

[slushycoookie]

Miguel needs you... 18+

“Please.”

He says your name while towering over you in the dark. Your calves pressed against the edge of your bed, your eyes up towards him. Miguel’s face stained with tears while searching for an answer. You want to ask what’s wrong. Why he’s come to you distraught in the dead of night. But no words escape your lips. 

Instead, you nod.

Miguel does all of the heavy lifting. He picks you up, laying you carefully on the sheets. Whatever he’s feeling, he’s not taking it out on you. He’s gentle, removing your clothes and his suit. His lips on yours were desperate, the unknown emotion fading with every kiss. His calloused hands trace your body as if you were a painting. The tips of his fingers move like a brush stroke. 

You whimper from his caresses and he swallows them all. Completely absorbed by you. His fingers dip along your sex, chest rumbling at how wet you were for him already. Miguel holds you close while slowly pumping two fingers into you. A thumb lazily circling your clit. You try to hide as he pleasures you, but he demands you look at him. Desperation decorating his crimson eyes while they mix with lust. And you get lost in them. Relaxing your muscles only for them to jolt in pleasure. Pushing you to the deep end.

Miguel helps you ride your high as much as he can. His fingers slick with your arousal. As he turns you over, his lips press along your head, then goes down. To your neck, your shoulders, your back. All while making sure your hips are up in the air, face down. Even then he takes his time, making sure he's kissed every single part of your back. 

Then he slides into you.

You whine at the stretch, tangling your fingers into the sheets. Miguel groans at how you feel, slowly settling himself all the way in. He leans over, a hand on top of yours while the other a firm grip on your hip. His face on your head as he takes a minute to be completely absorbed by you. Pretending you two were the only people in this world. Right here and right now. 

When he starts to move, you sigh at him pulling all the way back then pushing forward. Slow but powerful thrusts almost knock the wind out of your lungs. He lovingly traps you under him, his hand squeezing yours after each snap of his hips. His breath traveling down the nape of your neck, not wanting to part from you at this moment. 

He picks up the pace of his slow rhythm. The grip on your hip gets harder and he starts being more vocal, whining in your ear. Sweat from your skin sticking to his chest. Goosebumps forming at hearing the sticky, wet sounds of your exchange. And you know he’s close so you let him ride that wave. 

Miguel stills, letting out whatever he was going through. Filling you up with his cum while buried in your neck. He presses further into you, clutching on to make sure not a drop escapes. In the crisp silence, the soft sounds of crickets outside your window, he kisses your head. Still inside you.

“Thank you.”

A/N: Thank you, 'Dopamine' by Jackson Wang, for inspiring me.

[da-birb-writes-sometimes]

OMG SAW UR ASKS WERE OPEN AND I RAN SO FAST HFJDJSBS

Anyways ok so imagine *trips over my own feet* imagine uhm baking cookies *stumbling* baking cookies with Lilia:3

No pressure ofc! I hope u will enjoy writing this if u do! And make sure to drink after and take care of urself!

Flour Belongs In The Cookies; Lilia Vanrouge

Content; Gender-neutral reader, fluff, some pining

Word Count; 650+

Author's Note; Cloudy, you do know how bad his cooking is, right? Besides that, I hope you enjoy what I did with this little prompt!

As a reminder, do not put my work — or others for that matter — into AI as it steals. Link to Masterlist

You knew full well going into this that Lilia … wasn’t the best person to leave around food. Well, you didn’t know to the full extent how ‘bad’, ‘revolting’, and ‘utterly cursed’ he was according to his dormmates (and adoptive family? Still trying to wrap your head around that one, to be honest). 

Yet, as you were both adding ingredients to the batch of cookies you were making, he had done nothing to tamper with the recipe or mess up by accident. Perhaps Silver, Sebek and Malleus were just overexaggerating it? Lilia has been completely fine, a great helper even! 

“So,” you cleared your throat, breaking the quiet (which was both comfortable yet awkward). “Why did you want to bake cookies with me? Not that I mind, just curious is all.”

Lilia looked up from the wet and dry ingredients he was combining and offered you a cheeky smile with a wink. “Hmm, do I need a reason to do so,” he breathed with a silent chuckle, sneaking some of the raw dough into his mouth.

You tutted, taking the bowl away from him. “I don’t need you getting sick from eating that now–”

But your attempt at lecturing was silenced by a small puff of flour being slapped gently on your cheek; a white handprint now on it. “RUDE!”

Lilia was having a good old laugh, from either getting flour on you, the shocked expression on your face, or a combination of the two (knowing him, it was bound to be the last one). He was actually getting pink in the face because of it; was he even taking breaks from laughing to breathe???

“Ah, lighten up! Plus,” he paused and covered your hand in flour and gently slapped it on his cheek, “there, we match now.” 

His magenta eyes were twinkling with mischief and you found yourself gently shaking your head and chuckling. Sighing, you picked up some flour with your hands and made it look like you were just going to cover the countertop with it, but you swerved, and slapped it into Lilia’s hair.

Lilia coughed, and rubbed at his eyes, trying to get the flour out of his eyes, but once he opened them again, you were gone. So we’re playing games now? But he just wheezed in delight and gave chase, a cup full of flour on hand so he could repay the favour. After all, since you both had matching handprints on your cheeks, you deserved to be bestowed some flour on your head.

“And here you were saying it was rude of me for that first move,” he called out into the dorm. They couldn’t have gotten far now.

He heard the curtains ruffle, and he floated over, not making a sound.

Peaking oh so carefully behind the curtains, he spotted you, silently giggling to yourself. And that’s when he made his move.

“Found you!~” And he sprinkled the flour over your head; much more gently than you did to him.

You groaned, knowing it would take a bit to get the flour out from everything… but the way Lilia floated overhead made it look like he was sprinkling snow… was he always this pretty? Even with him covered in flour, you still felt your heart flutter.

You mentally slapped your cheeks though, and got yourself up. 

“Guess you did… but that was fun,” you chuckled, dusting yourself off to the best of your ability.

The moment though was ruined by your smoke alarm going off; it was a wonder that those even worked, but hey, at least they worked.

Rushing to the kitchen, you opened up the oven to have a mass of black smoke smelling of burnt food of some sort enveloping the both of you.

“What happened?!” You coughed out, trying to open up the windows and doors to let out the smoke.

Lilia grimaced, “Ah… perhaps I set the oven too high.”

And even though you had fun making the now coal-like cookies, perhaps store-bought would have been better…

...

...

...

...

Tags; @afunkyfreshblog @eynnwwyjth @identity-theft-101 @ithseem @lucid-stories @ryker-writes @twistwonderlanddevotee @xxoomiii

[thegreatcrowdragon]

No heterosexual explanation for this

[sogthewoz]

I had a vision come to me in a dream

[becca-e-barnes]

I've been way too into hot wife stuff at the minute, I blame Serenity Cox and it got me thinking about being Steve's wife but he's really into watching you with Bucky.

Most of the appeal for Steve is that you and Bucky really degrade him. He gets to watch his little wife cum on his best friend's cock while you both taunt him and he never thought he'd be into it the way that he is.

"Your girl's so fuckin' tight, Steve." Bucky pants, slowing his thrusts into you because if he keeps up his current pace, he'll cum faster than he wants to. "Does Stevie fill you the way I do? Bet he can't. He's not as big as me."

You shake your head, staring right at Steve. "Not even close. You're pathetic, aren't you Stevie? You'd rather watch me get fucked by your best friend."

You know it's mean but Steve fucking loves it. He's cum four times already and he's still jerking himself off. It's like he just can't stop and it's so thrilling to see him enjoy this as much as he is.

"I'm gonna cum in your girl, Steve. Gonna make you watch me stuff her so full. Just imagine your pretty little wife with my cum dripping out of her greedy cunt. If you're lucky, she might let you fuck her after I'm finished." Bucky's not usually so vulgar but God, it works wonders for both you and Steve.

"I don't know. I'm not sure if I'll ever want to fuck Steve again." Hearing you say that sends Steve over the edge, spilling a fresh load all over himself while he groans pathetically and even then, he doesn't stop.

"I can't blame you. Now you know how it feels to be fucked right. Felt you cum on me more times than I can count." Bucky's not wrong but his excitement is building and you feel his pace start to falter.

"Fuck, oh fuck." You whimper, feeling the first few pulses of his cock and the unmistakable feeling of his load splashing into your eager body. You've needed this. You were desperate for it and after a second you realise neither of you needed it more than Steve did.

"Good girl, fuckin' take it. I can't stop." Bucky groans, pressed as deep inside you as he can get, pumping his cum right to your cervix. He cums for what feels like an eternity and it's pure bliss.

By the time he's finished, Steve is trembling with need once more.

"If you don't want your wife knocked up with your best friend's baby, I suggest you get to work." You tease, pressing Steve back on the bed and repositioning yourself so you're sitting on his face, letting his best friend's cum drip out of you and into his eager, waiting mouth.

[psychologicalwarclaire]

Wu trained Morro at the same time that Garmadon was training with Chen which MEANS that Misako was around to see what the pressure of wanting and training to be the Green Ninja could lead to.

So later when she had Lloyd and KNEW that he would be the legendary Green Ninja, do you think she thought of the child Wu had once trained? The kid who became so obsessed with proving himself that he put himself in danger time and time again? The little boy who ran off into the night and never came back?

After seeing that, is it any wonder why she didn't want to leave her son-- the actual Green Ninja-- to be trained by Wu at such a young age?

Maybe a boarding school for bad boys would never make him want to be a hero. Maybe it would keep him safe from the destructive power of destiny. Maybe Darkley's was the only way to save her beloved son, Lloyd Garmadon, from himself.

Maybe Misako remembered Morro. And maybe, just maybe, she knew it would be best if her son never turned into someone like that.

[cookierunauprompts]

AU Prompt #4 💓

It had been oh so long since you last saw your love, how long had it been now? You lost track, but it certainly must be a high number. It's a miracle that you haven't crumbled yet, but it doesn't look like you've aged at all this you were 'freed' from his tower. You had originally been placed there for safe-keeping, after all with a cookie that made himself a new enemy every day ever since his corruption who knows who would go after you to get back at him. You knew him from before that too, and yet you still stayed because you loved him. Even now, you still love him. So maybe that's why you begged Gingerbrave and Co to take you with them to Beast Yeast, you'd heard that that's where he and the other Beasts were being held... At least, you think so. So when you saw him again, those gigantic blue eyes locking onto you like a kid seeing that their favorite candy bar was back in stock at the candy store. You couldn't help but feel like your little cookie heart wasn't going to be ready just yet even after all these years. " Oh my little Star~!" He'd excitedly squealed as he scooped you up into his ever-so big hands, much to the horror of your friends. " It's been ever so long since I last saw you~!"

....

Or, an AU where you(or an oc if you want) were Shadow Milk Cookie's lover before he got sealed.

[jellywalker-apocalypse]

The Dark Cacao Kingdom was always barren.

It had always been like that, for the longest time that Caramel Arrow—or really, even Hollyberry—could remember.

But.. seeing it completely empty, with snow filling in holes of destroyed lives and broken dreams, was still such a shock to witness. Every footstep they took echoed. The silence felt deafening, especially after so long hearing blubbering zombies over your shoulder for months. It was just so.. weirdly different. The corridors that Caramel Arrow once knew almost felt new, despite their layout being unchanged. It was simply.. unsettling.

Though.. even with the growing worries, Caramel Arrow felt herself being unable to give up hope. Desperately grasping for any ounce of hope that the Kingdom she so suddenly abandoned managed to find any way to persevere. Any way to keep both itself and the people within safe, continuing on with their duties in complete and utter control. Any way to make sure there were as little casualties as possible.

Hollyberry stood close behind the younger cookie, sharing almost the exact same hope—the hope of finding any survivors that may have survived whatever form of Jellywalker invasion hit the Kingdom so badly.

Neither of them said any words, though. The surrounding silence, although being usually scary, felt somewhat like a relief to hear. No sounds means no Jellywalkers, but.. also means no people.

As they approached the throne room, their hopes began to grow.. faltering. Absolutely zero signs of any stray cookies, right outside of the King’s throne room..

The two share an ever so slightly concerned glance. The King.. Dark Cacao. What had happened to him? There had been zero sign of him around their mini patrol of what was left of the Kingdom.

Dark Cacao.. no. There was no way he could have fallen—he was so set on protecting what he could. Determined to make sure his Kingdom was safe, kept away from danger..

…

The two are snapped from what felt like their own shared thoughts as another, quiet pair of echoing footsteps begin to sound throughout the hallway.

Yet, as soon as they come, they disappear, setting the hallway into silence again.

Caramel Arrow’s attention is almost immediately taken to the throne room’s entrance.

And she wastes absolutely zero time, practically running as fast as her exhausted body could let her without letting Hollyberry even get a single word out about anything that might’ve just made those footsteps.

Caramel Arrow’s mind was so set on the possibility of her King still being alive. She’d rush into a whole swarm of Jellywalkers if it meant at the end she got to see him alive.

But.. even while rushing as fast as she could to get a glance of what just walked around, the feeling of immense guilt brewed in the back of her mind. What would she even say to His Majesty? Admit that she ran from her duties, broke a vow she made years ago?

The watcher shakes her head as she continues bolting into the throne room, already beginning to feel her growing, everlasting exhaustion start creeping up on her.

As she makes it into the throne room, she pauses-stopping right in her tracks as she’s met with a figure sitting unmoving and unbothered delicately on the throne.

Dark Cacao Cookie.

He was dressed in his usual beat up armor, long cape draping down to the bottom of the throne itself.

Yet.. his crown was missing from his brow, instead being hung from the side of the throne. Almost as if he felt like he did not deserve to sit at a throne and wear a crown at the same time.

His face was obscured by his own messy and heavily unkempt hair, while his posture made it even harder to recognize his facial features. Furthermore, he made no noise or movement as Caramel Arrow began sprinting to him.

She stopped a few short feet away from the king, landing on one knee while she rested her arm on the other-tilting her head downward as a sign of respect and eagerness to follow his orders. Her feeling of guilt, though.. she could not deny it was continuing to grow at a rapid pace now that she knew he had lived through the invading swarm.

She would have to tell him everything while she could, but.. god, she didn’t want to.

Hollyberry followed shortly after, moving to put her hood down as she immediately recognized the cookie sat on the throne.

So he had lived.. she was incredibly relieved to at least know that. She wasn’t sure what she would do if she had to travel back to the Vanilla Kingdom after her voyage and bear the news of his death to Pure Vanilla and White Lily. It still brought up the question of what had happened to everybody else, though. Why was it that his kingdom is so.. empty?

She wishes she could talk with him as soon as possible, but.. she’s sure that the two Cacaoians need some of their own time to discuss what had even happened. Caramel Arrow didn’t seem too fond about talking directly to her about it.. perhaps she had waited to try and find the king of the Cacao Kingdom itself to mention it directly to him?

She carefully stops a few moments behind Caramel Arrow, keeping a concerned glance at the poor postured king sitting at the throne. Something was clearly.. wrong. There should be very little reason for him to be sulking like this atop his own throne…

The large room is thrown into complete silence, spare the noises of the blizzarding snow outside of the kingdom’s faltering walls. Nobody seemed to speak, to move, to try and reconcile..

It was all just silent.

And it was only making Caramel Arrow’s guilt eat up at her more and more.

With every moment of utter silence, Caramel Arrow grew guiltier and guiltier.

Her hope was dwindling. Having the king alive is only one step in the bigger picture of things.

Everyone else could be dead.

Everyone else could be dead because of her.

She ran.. she ran from—-

“…Caramel Arrow Cookie.”

Dark Cacao finally spoke, voice loud yet audibly broken and mentally weak.

“First Watcher. You’re.. brave to come here again. After everything.”

Caramel Arrow’s free hand grasped at the brick below her feet.

The room fell into silence again. Caramel Arrow’s breathing began to hitch. It was now clear she was struggling to keep her own composure.

Still, despite that, she attempted to speak in response.

The words she spoke, though, were saddening to even bear witness to. Words that she shouldn’t have to say. Not after everything Dark Cacao himself had put her through, even if the situation had been taken the wrong way. They were words that should be said to her, not words that she should have to speak.

“I’m sorry.”

That was the most quiet either Ancient had ever heard her. Her voice was wavering, unstable and shaky. Everything, from her own exhaustion to the guilt of her leaving everything behind, was crashing in as she tried to speak.

Hollyberry’s attention flicks back and forth from Dark Cacao to her, but the Ancient Cookie’s expression of pure worry does not waver. It was clear to her now that something was going to unfold, and she would be yet again powerless to stop it.

“I..” Caramel Arrow picks up again, her voice continuing to grow defeated at each word she struggled to force out of her mouth. “I failed to.. to complete my duties.. my vow..”

Dark Cacao repositions himself slightly, posture becoming more formal. He did not say a word.

“I did not stay true to my word.. my word of fighting until I couldn’t,” She continued, grip trying to grasp onto the floor more as she persisted in an attempt to ground herself. “Instead, I.. I failed to warn the Kingdom of the incoming threat. The.. the Jellywalkers.”

Dark Cacao lifts his head upwards, taking his attention to Hollyberry as Caramel Arrow mentions the Jellywalker horde. His expression was.. cold, but not towards either cookie displayed in front of him. He was simply.. troubled greatly by whatever pain this horde had caused.

It is another few moments before Caramel Arrow speaks again.

“I ran.”

And that’s all she says. That’s all she says as Dark Cacao quietly begins to rise from his slumped form on the throne and take heavy steps towards her figure, stopping only to continue listening intently to her. He has no.. words. No proper words to tell her, to comfort her, to do anything.

Caramel Arrow completely collapses forward, both of her hands desperately fumbling at Dark Cacao’s long, purple cape. Instead of the cruel, blizzarding winds outside, the citadel would instead be filled with the tired, dolorous cries of the devoted soldier in front of the king himself.

“I RAN!” She repeated in shout, grip tightening as much as possible on the fabric she had managed to grasp. “I ran, and I failed everything.. everyone.. I failed all the things I swore my own life to protect!”

There’s no room for silence. Caramel Arrow won’t let herself get quiet. She was going to spill out all her guilt, all of the truth she began to suddenly gather about the situation. She was going to cry until she couldn’t anymore.

“I failed my colleagues, the other Watchers. I failed the people within a now.. now completely shattered kingdom. I failed my only brother..!”

She just managed to choke out the last word of that sentence, throwing a weak punch at the ground below her as Dark Cacao only listened on. His gaze was turned onto Hollyberry, eyes clearly upset and considerate of everything the younger cookie was desperately speaking about.

“And— and worst of all, I.. I failed you. I failed you. I failed my own king, I failed the kingdom he told me to protect, I.. failed everything I ever cared to devote my life to. I failed it all, I..”

Caramel Arrow lets out a weak noise as she finally lets herself get quiet, sobs still filling the large throne room.

Dark Cacao’s attention doesn’t leave Hollyberry as Caramel Arrow continues to cry and sputter weakly at his feet, expression only growing more tender as the situation completely settles into him. If his situation was not already incredibly saddening, the fact that his most devoted soldier is blaming herself for saving her own life is making it infinitely worse.

He is so, so proud of how she was truly devoted to his Kingdom, even while in exile, but.. she shouldn’t begin blaming herself for a situation that was utterly out of her control and skill level.

Dark Cacao’s eyes slowly and somberly close as Hollyberry’s attention is brought upsettingly to the floor.

It…

It was going to be a long, painful moment of silence before he could get himself to speak.

[catastrophiccerealkiller]

hello just came here to say i hate rhysand and cassian please die thank you for listening to my ted talk.

[snail-noodle]

Shadow Milk Cookie x Reader

Before he got corrupted, he was once called Light Milk Cookie (I'll change it once they reveal his true past name in canon)

I may have went a bit far with these.... enjoy 🤗

◇◇◇◇◇◇

💙 Before his corruption, he was known as Light Milk Cookie. You first met him when he stopped to rest at your village. You were absolutely mesmerized at his appearance, barely catching onto his question. "I've traveled quite a distance. Is there perhaps an inn around here that I could rest at?"

You stuttered as you offered him a room to stay in your home, informing him that your village had no inn, just a few shops. Hearing your offer, he gave you the most beautiful smile you have ever seen from a cookie, thanking you for your generosity.

💙 Light Milk Cookie had meant to stay in your village just for a day or two. In the end, he ended up staying for 3 whole weeks! Word had gotten out to the other villagers that one of the Five Great Cookies had arrived to their humble little town. Some believed he had stayed to show and tell the villagers of his knowledge that he had received throughout the years. In truth, he had stayed for you.

💙 During his stay, he spent most of his time with you. You would both talk about your favorite hobbies, your dreams, and the places you wish to see. Light Milk Cookie would listen to you with great interest, mentally keeping notes of what you like, what you didn't like, things you yearned for, and so much more.

💙 Your village is founded in the middle of a forest with a river nearby. You were a bit more adventurous than those in your village, so you would show him the many hidden spots that had the best sceneries in the forest. There was eventually a moment where the two of you had confessed your feelings for each other. The gentle sound of running water of the nearby river and the soft chirps from the birds among the trees only made the moment even more intimate and romantic.

The two of you practically spent the whole day in that quiet little spot. Hidden away from prying eyes, the two of lay close to each other, your hand entangled with his as you listened to his many stories of his past adventures with his friends.

💙 Before he left to continue his journey, he left you an enchanted scroll. He laughed softly at your confused face, "This scroll will allow us to communicate, even when we're far apart from each other." Reaching inside his backpack, he took out another scroll and a quill pen. He took a moment to write something, and once he finished and closed the scroll, the soft chime of a bell rang from the scroll you had been holding.

Opening the scroll, you blushed as you read what he had written for you. "This is.. this is amazing!" You gazed at the scroll with wonder and excitement. Light Milk Cookie's heart fluttered at your praise. The enchanted scroll had been a new idea that he came up with recently. To hear this from you filled his heart with so much joy!

💙 With an embrace and a loving kiss, you bid him a farewell. You stood at your front door, your gaze never leaving his form as he grew smaller the further he walked away. Only when he was completely out of sight did you finally return back to your home. He had left you the magic scroll, but he had also left you with a few items of his own. You reached for the scarf that he had gifted you, you giggled as you wrapped it around your neck, the sweet smell of blueberries enveloping your senses.

💙 As time went on, the two of you would exchange letters to each other at every moment. The sound of a bell ringing in your house almost every minute. Weeks would go by as he would tell you about every cookie and creature he would encounter in his path. Some good, some bad, and some downright strange. As the holder of Knowledge itself, you knew he was stronger than any other cookie in this world. Still, you can't help but worry whenever he mentioned having to fight a beast or some vile bandits.

💙 Just as he wrote you about his encounters, he wrote you many poems dedicated to you and your hometown. Some had you giggling, and some had you completely red in the face. His words were like honey; He yearned to have you by his side, to join him in his own kingdom. He made promises to take you to see the vast world that is Earthbread.

💙 Eventually, he had reached his destination and promised to send you a letter later that night. You waited a whole day, but then that day turned to weeks, and those weeks turned to months. Your mind and soul ached with worry for your lover. You would send him a letter once a day, hoping for any response. Your heart is aching for his comforting words.

Nothing.

💙 One morning, as you were preparing breakfast to start your day, you froze as the sound of a bell chimed across the house. Rushing to your room with tears in your eyes, you quickly grabbed the scroll from your desk, your hands shaking as you read what he wrote you.

I'm coming, my dearest.

A shriek of terror was heard outside the moment you finished reading the words. Your heart pounded with fear as you ran outside to see the commotion. You gasped at the sight before you. What once was a beautiful morning sky has now turned to complete darkness. Eyes... many blue blinking eyes, big and small, littered the dark abyss. All of them seemed to be looking straight at you.

💙 Laughter. The sound of laughter rang out throughout the sky. "At last, at last! I've returned to you, my love!" You gasped as a cookie suddenly appeared right in front of you, causing you to stumble back and fall. Before you could even hit the ground, the strange cookie caught you just in time.

"Be careful, my precious pearl! Wouldn't want you to crumble so soon!" His eyes twinkled at you mischievously, giving you the most biggest grin you've ever seen from a cookie. You looked at the strange cookie, no, the strange jester, with confusion. His voice, the hair, and those brilliant blue eyes. They reminded you so much of him. Surely it couldn't be...?

"Light Milk Cookie?"

[thebiscuitlabryinth]

"...We're two sides of the same coin, aren't we?"

The whispered confession falls clumsily out of Pure Vanilla's mouth, almost dragged out, bitterly sweet and strange on his tongue. The words are addressed to his own stained candy glass visage, spilling tendrils of bright blue light across the Solarium of Unity despite the almost suffocating darkness invading the rest of the space.

He knows this isn't really the Solarium of Unity, and he knows he isn't just speaking to a window. The lurking shadows, thick like molasses and blinking every once in a while, give that away. Even if it didn't, there is a haziness here that exists only in dreams, and a lack of the deep tiredness that has been plaguing him as of late.

"Oh, are you finally ready to admit that?" Sure enough, Shadow Milk Cookie's voice comes from all sides, far too cheerful. The candy glass melts and warps before him, the blues darkening until Shadow Milk stands in his place, far more detailed than the artisan silhouette he replaced. His grin is mocking as he looks down at Pure Vanilla, who cannot help but feel uncomfortable at the sight of their appearances blurring together like that, even though he had been expecting something along those lines. "Too bad though – you can't admit something that's wrong!"

"Huh?" It catches Pure Vanilla by surprise. It had been difficult emotionally, but logically straightforward to admit they were two sides of the same coin. He couldn't imagine how that could be wrong, and acting upon an old habit from his student days, he finds himself frantically unravelling that conclusion in his head again to figure out the issue.

Shadow Milk doesn't give him the chance, tutting as he shakes his head in mock disappointment. "You must have a brain in there, can't you use it?" He laments theatrically, contorting himself into an odd shape against the edge of the window pane. Then, again barreling on before Pure Vanilla can reply, "Look, think of it like this. To say we're two sides of the same coin means that we have similarities, even if we are otherwise opposites. That is true to an extent, but it makes our differences sound way more clear cut than they actually are. It may be easier for you to believe, but we aren't really opposites. That would imply I am not whole, and I can assure you, Soul Jam aside, I am just as I always was!"

Ah, so it's a matter of wording. Pure Vanilla isn't sure why he is entertaining this - no, it's because he doesn't want to give Shadow Milk the satisfaction of turning away from the truth. Even now, Shadow Milk's eyes squint cheekily at him, daring him to try and end the conversation.

"Then... we are made of the same components in a different composition." Pure Vanilla tries, a little frustrated with his own hesitance, but it is difficult to tell how Shadow Milk wants him to answer when he isn't making it blatantly obvious.

"So close!" Shadow Milk sighs dramatically as he snaps his head to the side so sharply it makes Pure Vanilla wince, imagining the cracks that would cause on any other Cookie. "But you're relying on technicalities. It's much simpler than that."

It dawns on Pure Vanilla, then, exactly what Shadow Milk is aiming for, the realisation making his insides crawl. He doesn't have to say it, not really, but he isn't sure what Shadow Milk will do if he doesn't, and he unfortunately doesn't have the ability to wake himself up on command.

So he takes a deep breath, fidgeting with his staff as he says, even less than a whisper yet twice as loud. "We're... We're the same. Is that what you wanted me to say?"

"Ding-ding-ding!" Shadow Milk trills, suddenly reaching through the candy glass to grip the window frame and lurching forward across the threshold, leaving a mess of shattered glass behind his head like a halo. It startles Pure Vanilla, who instinctively shifts his foot back, only to be instantly locked in place as the reaching shadows soldify around his legs, its eyes winking up at him playfully. His grip on his staff tightens, willing it to shed its light, the beginnings of panic stirring within him at the restraint. The staff does, but the shadows seem to eat the light without a problem.

Pure Vanilla is so distracted by the shadows that he doesn't notice Shadow Milk's hands until they grab his face. His heart jumps in alarm, and his eyes dart up to find half of Shadow Milk leaning down out of the window, far too close. He is grinning at him, wide and self-satisfied, and his hands are cold and harsh. "See, I knew you had a working brain! Yes, the right answer is that we are one and the same."

He pinches and pulls at his cheeks, and Pure Vanilla tries to cringe away, tries to manuver his staff between them. It doesn't work, if only because hands emerge from the darkness to anchor his staff too.

"But that isn't true." Pure Vanilla mumbles when he isn't able to wiggle his way out and Shadow Milk still shows no signs of stopping, hoping the argument will make him lose interest in his face. "I admit that there are similarities between us, but we aren't really the same."

Shadow Milk pauses, his grip tightening until it borders on pain, and for a moment, Pure Vanilla thinks he may have miscalculated.

But then Shadow Milk snickers to himself, releasing his face entirely and pulling back, his hands resting lightly over Pure Vanilla's shoulders. The brush of weight keeps Pure Vanilla from relaxing, but it is a bit of added distance, at least.

"Aren't we? Well, you are the biggest liar, so I should have expected you would lie to yourself too." Shadow Milk hums, almost sounding delighted at this turn in conversation. It unnerves Pure Vanilla, because he had assumed his disagreement would annoy him.

Instead, Shadow Milk smirks, his many eyes glinting gleefully at him. "Listen carefully, Vani, because here's the truth." He says, his voice dipping into a wicked purr that seems to shudder through Pure Vanilla's whole body. "All the things you hate that I have done, you have the capability of doing too. After all, you've already used people for your own gain, haven't you?" Shadow Milk leans closer with a condescending lilt to his words, shifting his hands so he can wrap his arms loosely over his shoulders, and Pure Vanilla freezes under the touch. "Oh, I know you think it was necessary, but you still sent those naive, tiny Cookies off to carry out your errands for you, regardless of the dangers. That's only a few steps behind what I've done, you know, making people dance to my tune. The only difference between us is severity and time."

The words sink heavily to Pure Vanilla's stomach, not quite true but not quite not true, and he feels a little lightheaded, fingers twitching against his staff. Maybe it's because of that, or maybe it's because of his discomfort from the close proximity, but he finds himself distracted by the way Shadow Milk is talking. He carries his usual air of showmanship, but it is nowhere near as exaggerated as during his brief takeover of the Faerie Kingdom. With his insistence of specificity, his mention of technicalities, his structured method of explaining things, he almost sounds like a–

"We are the same," Shadow Milk repeats, tilting his head to the side, the glow of his eyes burning holes through Pure Vanilla, "and one day, you'll end up just like me."

A scholar.

That makes sense – at some point, his virtue had been Knowledge, and nobody seeks it out as fervently as a scholar – but it still feels like a surprise. Pure Vanilla had always known that Shadow Milk was different, once, but only in the sense that the fact existed in the back of his mind.

"No rebuttal, hmm? Are you ready to accept that?" Shadow Milk asks smugly, slightly impatient with Pure Vanilla's lack of response, but mostly watching him expectantly, as if waiting for a bomb to go off.

Pure Vanilla has never thought about what Shadow Milk might have been like, before he became like this. There was no reason to even consider it. But now, he can't help but wonder, because while he cannot imagine this chaotic, brutal Beast, this great unknown evil, as anything else – Shadow Milk still carries echoes from a past life that he doesn't seem to notice enough to hide with his lies.

"...If we are the same," Pure Vanilla finally scrapes his thoughts together enough to reply, carefully, "then doesn't that make the opposite possible too? That, one day, you will become like me and return to the light?"

Shadow Milk blinks once, his face falling blank. He blinks again, all of his eyes in quick succession.

And then he throws his head back and laughs, the movement jostling Pure Vanilla in the process with his arms still firmly around his shoulders. It sounds unhinged, ricocheting across the room, but it is openly amused. It makes Pure Vanilla antsy, especially with how it rings in his ears like an explosion from their closeness.

He wonders if Shadow Milk's laugh was different, before everything. It must have been. He wonders what it sounded like, and immediately realises that he's being ridiculous. The realisation that a before exists seems to have opened the floodgates in his mind, and now thoughts of hypotheticals can't help flitting in.

"You say such silly, silly things." Shadow Milk bites out offhandedly as his laughter winds down, the lingering remnants still dancing on his tongue. Without warning, he pulls Pure Vanilla even closer, the darkness that had been keeping him in place swirling and shoving him forward. Pure Vanilla gasps, the sound catching in his throat, and one of his hands fly off his staff to reach for something to steady himself on. It finds an edge of shattered candy glass, flinching back and falling down to scrabble against its smooth, intact surface.

Shadow Milk is giggling at him and Pure Vanilla is mortified, horribly so. They are far, far too close, Shadow Milk's face taking up the near entirety of his vision and their upper bodies almost pressed together. It feels claustrophobic, which should be impossible in such a wide, open space.

Shadow Milk makes matters worse by pressing their foreheads together, the gesture weirdly tender and doing nothing to make Pure Vanilla any calmer. His bright blue eyes look directly through him, dissecting him piece by piece.

"Why don't you cut down the Silver Tree and find out?" Shadow Milk coos, his voice overlapping with the Light of Truth's in a deeply unsettling way. His presence is overwhelming.

Pure Vanilla's eyes flicker downwards to escape his piercing gaze, and finds their chests so close that their Soul Jams are overlapping. Overlapping, and not touching, because Shadow Milk's Soul Jam seems to fizzle out of existence where the other makes contact with it, as if it were an illusion. Behind it is an empty space, black as the abyss. With the way they are lined up now, it is obvious that Pure Vanilla's Soul Jam would fit perfectly into the crevice with a little turning. He knew that already, but it still feels strange to see it.

Pure Vanilla sighs, a long, thin, shuddering sound. "...You didn't truly believe that would work, did you?"

In the edge of his vision, Shadow Milk smiles tauntingly, all teeth, but he doesn't say a word.

And Pure Vanilla wakes up, off kilter, exhausted and oddly cold.

[next]