#i don't actually know where this'll lead

[apocalyptic-dancehall]

here's a concept for a fusion thing ig.. they're completely batshit and exist only to annoy the everloving hell out of the jack pack

[rationaliity]

dr ratio vs. the genius society | an analysis

this'll also be a comparison between ruan mei and dr. ratio so warning for that one too, just in case.

i saw this post by @chronical-lover

and firstly, i just want to say thank you, especially about mentioning how aeons don't care about humans because youre so right. i wanna expand a little bit on the comparison between his character and the genius' that we've met this far.

ratio ultimately failed to be recognized not because he wasn't smart enough, but because he was too human. he's human first, scientist second. he'll always be human first, he doesn't have it in him to act without emotions no matter how much he wants logic to dictate his every move. his entire character is that he believes every one has a human right to be alive, to learn and to grow. he's there to guide them, not necessarily in the nicest way, but still.

i think contrasting him with ruan mei in the story quest was a perfect idea. when you meet ruan mei, she's kind. she makes the trailblazer feel comfortable, even for just a little bit. she offers companionship, tea, and a conversation. but she does not care about the trailblazer or her creations, something painfully obvious in her actions. when the trailblazer was facing up against ruan mei's failed attempt to make a replica of the emanator of propagation, ruan mei was no where to be found. but you know who was, just in case he had to step in ? veritas ratio. even though both knew that the replica wasn't likely to hurt the trailblazer, ratio was there.

" since you're here, i won't intercede. but should you fail, i will be forced to prevent some avoidable misfortunes "

( i hate this man so much )

but he was there. he witnessed the fight, and once the threat was over, it was time to get going ( his words, not mine ). he was there to witness you fight, and should he had needed to, he would've stepped in to prevent us from any actual danger. however, when we approach ruan mei after the fight, and we look reasonably upset from her, we don't get an actual apology. she says she regrets her actions, but her words aren't actually about putting us in danger. she was upset that her experiment fell short, that she had made another predictable outcome.

" you look.. upset, correct ? i regret my actions. there's no defending what i've done. time and again, my experiments have fallen short, and they've always yielded predictable results. i made a clone but it.. doesn't hold a candle to the emanator. "

she did say that she would be there if the danger proved to be too great, but she was not. veritas, however, was. both of them said that they would step in if needed, but only one of them was actually in a position to do so. only one of them took preventative measures to make sure that you were safe from harm. and that is not the genius ruan mei, no matter what her words say.

ruan mei has a flowery way of speaking. not to say that she necessarily minces her words, she's upfront about a lot of things. but she lures the trailblazer into a false sense of security. she's introspective, and questions her own actions a lot. but she's never apologetic about the way that her actions put other people in danger, just that they don't yield the results she wants.

ratio, however, is curt. we meet him originally as a brooding, mysterious figure. he's mean, he doesn't use a lot of words to get his point across. he says what he means, and he's a fan of effective communication. he doesn't have to worry about himself, he knows who he is and how is actions affect himself and the people around him, and that leads to people assuming that he's egotistical ( which he might be , a little bit. as a treat ) but the reality is that ratio cares more about the people around him that he'll ever let on.

and that's where he fails. that's the fundamental difference between him and those within the genius society. ruan mei, herta, screwllum, and the other geniuses do not care about anything other than results. and yet ratio is kind. he's inherently kind, his actions are all for other people. he's saved a dozen worlds with his inventions. he's a scholar within the intelligentsia guild, and a doctor saving his patient's lives every single day. he wants to guide people from the shadows towards the right answer, he wants to make them use their brains and think.

he does not act without considering other people. he can't be a genius first, and a human second. and that's where he fails to gain nous' recognition. it's not that he's not not intelligent enough to be a genius, it's that even in his pursuit of knowledge, he has not forgone his humanity.

and perhaps, in nous' eyes, that's the difference between the mediocre and the genius. to erase every part of you, your emotions, your empathy, your humanity, in the pursuit of knowledge is what separates a genius from the masses. not having those barriers allows you to really dig deep into subjects that would otherwise be considered taboo or dangerous, because you don't care about how the outcome affects people as long as you can study it. as long as you can get answers out of what you're studying, it doesn't really matter what the test subjects are feeling.

ratio is too human, too caring, to ever be considered a genius in nous' eyes.

[st4rfckerz]

car troubles | james kelly x reader

word count: 2.6k

warnings: MDNI 18+, unprotected sex, breeding, praise, age gap, pet names (baby, sweetheart, pretty girl etc), very brief dry humping, a lottt of banter, mention of masturbation, cockwarming (?), afab reader

summary: your neighbor james kelly fixes your car for you while you're home alone.

a/n: i lowkey don't like this fic 😭 but it's probably not as bad as i think it is, BUT hopefully you guys enjoy it more than me :)

it was a blessing and a curse for owning an old car. it was a curse since issues flared up so frequently, but it was also a blessing because it prompted your neighbor, james kelly, to fix it for free.

james was hunched over your car's hood, with a number of tools arranged next to him.

"i doubt this'll take long at all. you just have a dead battery, and maybe a few other mishaps but other than that your car is fine." james explains.

"sounds great. thanks again for fixing my car." you give him a friendly smile. james quickly returns the smile, followed by a small laugh.

"of course, you can always count on me for these kinds of things."

"noted." I fiddle with my fingers nervously before turning away.

"i'll just be inside so just come get me if you need anything."

"alright, will do"

he gives a small nod as he watches you disappear inside. his attention turns back to the vehicle.

ever since your family moved into your home when you were 15 years old, you'd always had a small crush on james. but after you entered college and spent so much time away from home, he had aimlessly plagued your thoughts.

you didn't mean for it to happen, but he just always managed to be the only person you'd think about when you're in bed by yourself. thinking about his tall frame, his long, slender fingers, and the way his arms would shine with sweat from fixing cars all day long always sent a flash of heat through your body.

some time passes and you hear a faint knocking at your back window, followed by the door creaking open just a tad.

"hey, she should be good to go now." he spoke to you as you sit at your kitchen island.

"that was quick, usually the shop takes like, 2 hours. i'm impressed." you chuckle. james gives you a smile and a shrug.

"no need to flatter me sweetheart, I've been doin' this forever."

a shortly lived tinge of arousal goes straight to your core after hearing the sudden petname. it always surprises you when he calls you something other than your name because he rarely ever does.

"if you want you could stay and rest for a little while." you had articulated the plan earlier that day of keeping him in your home while your parents were out, just to see where it would go.

"You wouldn't mind?" james' tired, weary expression lit up and he seemed more hopeful than he had in a while.

"I wouldn't be intruding on anything?" he nervously asked.

"not at all, it's just me here anyways. my dad's at work," you explain, flashing him an innocent smile.

"there's fresh lemonade in the fridge, and if you'd like you can use the shower, i know how hot it is outside."

james cleared his throat and looked over towards you.

"that'd be really nice, actually."

you didn't think it would be so easy to have such a smart man like james fall into your trap, but somehow it worked perfectly. he was in your house, and was about to use your shower. the only thing that was on your mind was simply how much of a genius you are.

"the bathroom's right upstairs, here i'll take you," he follows you upstairs and you lead him to the bathroom.

"there's the shower, soap, shampoo all that stuff." you explain as james stands awkwardly beside you.

"sounds good, thank you i really appreciate it." his voice sounds sincere and soft.

"its no problem really, take as long as you need, i'll just be in my room." you walk out the door before closing it behind you. soon, you hear the sounds of water running from the showerhead.

eventually, you hear the bathroom door open and a small cloud of steam escaping the doorway.

james spots you laying on your bed wearing tiny blue shorts, and a small white tee.

his mouth suddenly goes dry and millions of thoughts begin to swarm around in his mind.

how could you just lay there and look so perfect?

james has been a nervous wreck ever since he arrived at your house. he knew it was wrong to be so attracted to you because of the obvious age gap, but he just couldn't help himself.

he's seen you in so many ways, so many times; outside in the pool wearing nothing but a bikini, laying in the grass wearing your skimpy shorts and tank top casually trying to get a tan, he's even watched you change your clothes right in front of your bedroom window.

he always saved those mental images of you so he could fuck his fist later on.

james clears his throat and looks over at you, standing awkwardly at your doorway.

"oh hey." you smile. james glances over your room and notices your college flag plastered on your wall.

"college huh?" he points at the flag and begins walking towards your bed.

"yeah, I'm almost done actually." you reply sitting up and swinging your legs across the side of your bed.

"how much longer do you have?" he crosses his arms and leans against the wall.

"about 6 months? i'm so ready for it to be over," you sigh heavily.

"did you go to college?" you ask him.

"trade school." james nods

"i figured, you don't seem like you were the frat boy type." you joke.

james' face lights up in amusement as he laughs a little walking over to you. he decides to take a seat right next to you on your bed

"yeah... no. definitely not the frat boy type. never saw the appeal in them."

"me neither they can be obnoxious, can't stand them." you explain. an awkward silence stills before you both.

he looks at you, the corner of his mouth curling slightly in anticipation.

"you must have boyfriends back at college, don't you?" his slight change in tone and lift in confidence makes you a little nervous.

"oh no, i-i don't, college guys aren't really my...thing." you stutter. your gaze lingers on james, drinking his presence in.

his hair, still wet from the shower, glistened in the sunlight coming through the window. you could drool on the spot at the sight of his broad shoulders, muscles barely peeking out of from under his gray t-shirt.

"then what is your 'thing'." james shifts his body to face you more.

you shrug and shake your head.

"i don't know, i guess i just always went for older guys." you confess. you knew it was slightly obvious what you were suggesting but it was now or never.

a sly smirk appears on james' face before speaking again.

"really?"

"always have." you look down at your legs quickly. the way james was staring at made you feel like you were on fire.

"do you like anyone in particular?" james was itching at some kind of answer that could miraculously allude to himself.

"that's confidential." you try to avoid looking at him so he doesn't see the obvious blush spread across your cheeks.

"right, right." james had a small grin on his face as you revealed the answer.

he was almost giddy with joy. he knew what he wanted to hear, but he never expected you still had feelings for him.

"it's dumb, i know," a wave of embarrassment rushes through your body and you immediately regret admitting something so elementary.

"i'm sorry if it bothers you i don't-" james cuts you off

"it doesn't bother me."

"it doesn't?" james shakes his head and smiles slightly.

"no, does it bother you?"

"no." he begins leaning towards you slowly and your brain shuts down completely.

james was close enough to feel your breath as you spoke. his face was a few inches away from yours, and he was looking straight into your eyes.

there was a long pause for a moment. It was as if james thought you were gonna do something.

his voice was a little quiet as he spoke his next words.

"good."

james finally closes the gap between you and presses his lips softly against yours.

a tingle went up his spine as your lips came into contact with his. he had never anticipated this, but it felt different. it felt right.

his hand reached to touch your face and he pulled you in closer slowly, your bodies connecting more and more as he leaned into you.

the kiss deepens and a small whimper erupts in your throat.

james noticed the noise you made and smiles against your lips. his big hands grab your thighs and pulls you onto his lap.

he gently pulled you closer to his body again, his arm wrapped around your waist, and his other arm reached to caress your body as both of your lips touched.

james' lips connect to your neck, nipping at the skin along your jawline.

you moan slightly and subconsciously rut your hips against his.

he let out a groan as he gently broke the embrace to look at you.

"needy girl." he teases.

james grabs your hips and moves them harder against his center. he began kissing your neck as you rested in the position he held you in.

you feel his hand suddenly slip into your underwear.

"oh, sweetheart," james breathes out. he could feel how wet and needy you were for him

a pathetic whine escapes your lips as his finger draws antagonizingly slow circles around your clit.

"james please, i need you." the words that escaped your lips sent a jolt of electricity through his body.

he kept kissing your neck, his hand slither up your shirt, caressing and pinching at your nipples.

your words sent him over the edge and he let out a soft groan.

you needed so much more than his single finger. you mindlessly began to toy with the waistband of his pants, itching to just rip them off of him completely.

james was more than ready to let your hands do there work, as he lifted up his hips slightly.

"can i take these off?" james asks you softly, he begins pushing your shorts down your thighs.

you nod your head quickly and discard your shorts along with your shirt leaving you only in your underwear.

james' eyes shoot straight down to your chest.

"so perfect for me," he coos as he quickly latches his mouth onto one of your nipples, soon leaving little purple bruises on them. your eyes squeeze shut as you feel his tongue flicking against the bud.

the sound of a belt hitting the ground makes you jump slightly.

"i can't wait any longer." james mutters against your lips before pressing his mouth against yours.

his fast hands move your underwear to the side.

the feeling of his cock finally entering your dripping hole made your head fall onto his shoulder and a long breathy moan fall from your lips.

you can feel james' body shudders under you.

"oh, fuck," james waits a few seconds before finally thrusting upwards, moving your hips to meet his simultaneously.

the sound of yours and james' moans followed by the slight slapping of skin filled the air of your bedroom.

"you feel so good baby, so good for me."

if james kept speaking to you in that velvety tone you were sure that you were gonna cum a lot quicker than expected.

your mind was completely empty, not a single thought popped into your brain.

that was soon interrupted by the sound of your cellphone.

"it's my dad." you tell james urgently but he continues to litter your neck with small kisses and bites.

"answer it."

you stare at him blankly, the annoying ringtone still erupting from your phone.

your fingers hesitate for a moment before accepting the call and pressing your phone up to your ear.

"hey dad." you try to stiffle a moan as james begins thrusting up into you again.

it was so difficult trying to contain your moans while still trying to have a conversation with your dad.

"yeah, james came over mm-" your hand flies to your mouth.

you could feel james smirk against your neck as he continues to thrust into you at a faster pace.

"no-sorry, it was a cough."

he was relentless with his hunger for you, and didn't want to keep it at bay.

"be quiet baby, we don't need daddy hearing how good i'm making you feel hm?"

his voice was suddenly filled with a deep and lustful tone, but you loved it.

james heard the talking from your phone but it didn't distract him, it only sent a tinge of excitement in his heart.

he let his hands to roam all over your body, causing goosebumps to spread all over your body.

"he did a great job, the car...the car should be ok now."

your dad just kept talking. completely oblivious to what was happening on the other side of the phone.

james grins widely and let out a quiet moan, feeling your pussy squeeze around him.

his lips left your neck and he let his head lean back on the headboard. he didn't even stop his advances as he heard your dad talking. he just enjoyed seeing you try your hardest to stay quiet as he abused your cunt.

your dad finally says his goodbyes after asking a million questions regarding james' visit and you have never felt so relieved.

"that was a close one." james chuckled.

you let out an exasperated laugh, still not able to fully function. especially now that his fingers begin rubbing furiously at your clit, causing you to moan louder and buck your hips harder against his.

"j-james..." your body was shaking uncontrollably. that familiar not began to form in your stomach and fiery heat began to spread through your legs.

"you gonna cum for me pretty girl?" he taunts.

your face contorts in pleasure as you try to muster up any words that come to mind.

"m'so close-"

"i know baby i know, me too." the grip he has on your thighs grows firmer and his nails begin to dig harshly into your skin.

"come on sweetheart, give it to me." james thrusts harder into you, swiftly hitting your sweet spot everytime.

your walls clench around his cock as you cum, earning a loud, throaty groan from james. his warm seed coats your insides, leaving you feeling full and absolutely satisfied.

"there you go," james coaxes you through your orgasm.

james felt your sweat covered body collapse onto his and he kissed your forehead softly.

he kept his arms wrapped around your back, holding you close to him.

"are you okay?" was the first thing that came out of his mouth after a moment.

"mhm, m'ok" you flash james a tired smile.

he slowly opened his eyes as well and kissed your forehead. he let out another sigh as his arms were still wrapped around you.

then he spoke again, his voice filled with curiosity.

"so...what did your dad want to talk about?" he asked softly, still laying back on the bed with you on top of him.

"he was just asking if you had already come over and everything," you let out a snort.

"i definitely came." you look up at james to see a cocky smile across his face.

"stop," you giggle and slap his arm playfully.

"he also mentioned that he would be staying an extra hour at work."

james' demeanor shifted once you told him the good news of your dad staying longer at work.

"good," james leaned forward and kissed you again, grabbing your hand and pulled you down to the bed.

his hands slowly traveled down to your thighs, and he caressed it slightly before pulling your legs apart and situating himself in between them.

"because i'm not done with you yet."

[demonic0angel]

(Probably my most weirdest prompt: Danny was wondering why how did Jon knows about the ghosts and Ghost Zone)

"Hey, Dami, something's been bothering me…" Danny asked Damian.

"What is it, Fenton?" Said the Wayne heir responded.

"How come you and your family don't find it weird that Jon knows about the ghosts?" Danny questioned.

(This is actually a very normal prompt. The problem is that I have no idea where you're trying to lead me and I'm just as confused as Danny is. However, I'm going to assume it's about Superman dying? But idek about that, so this'll probably be short.)

Damian blinked and then gave him a slightly judgmental look.

"Shouldn't you know? After all, you're the Ghost King, aren't you, Fenton?"

Danny groaned. "I don't know everything! And I only just got crowned a few months ago, I still haven't gone through all of Jazz's paperwork yet."

Damian conceded on that point. The eldest Fenton daughter did seem to be the kind of person to talk too much.

Damian tsked and then said, "Didn't you know? Superman died quite a few times before."

Danny's jaw dropped and he looked shocked.

Damian blinked.

Huh.

Well, perhaps there were things that not even the God of Death and King of the Infinite Realms could know after all.

[somegirlontheinternet135]

I didn't expect a post about a dating sim x click & point adventure game with The Beasts to be this popular but. . .

*random gestures*

So here you go, some thoughts & features that could be added to this weird fangame I conjured up!

(tw: long)

~General~

The world that the player teleported into heavily mirrors the land of beast yeast, complete with each of the landmarks which the beasts resign in. One exception however is at the center of this mysterious land is a forest of silver trees, which surround a strange alter of six stone standing pads, five little stones around a much larger stone in the middle (wonder what that's about?)

Somewhere amidst the silver woods is a mysterious grove, a grove filled with lilies. If adventurous enough, the player can explore the grove, but be warned, for not only do the scent of lilies cause drowsiness and the possibility of passing out, but lilies aren't the only thing that the land houses. The grove is peerless maze, so the player must enter with caution

The story length will be similar to how Obey Me is set up (divided into different chapters) with the first three to four chapters introducing the Beasts

There's no "canonical" choice of who'll you'll end up with, that's entirely up to the player. Another choice the player will have is whether the relationships can be platonic or romantic

Although many MCs are mostly left blank slates, I want the player in the sort of grey area between having an actual personality but leaving details vague enough to leave people guessing. Think the MC from "Obey Me" crossed with Yuu from "Twisted Wonderland" And you know many MCs are often nice and kind-hearted, well sorta throw that out the window bc we're doing something special(snarky, sarcastic, brutality honest, and filled with trust issues)

There's only snippets of what the player physically looks like(trust me, this'll be important later)

It's also important that the player has zero memory of entering the world they were basically isekaed into, something which the beasts learn one way or another. . .

The player will receive several petnames from the beasts, ranging from simple ones like "dear" or "sweetheart," to petnames relating to mice and other rodents(ie: "Little Mouse," "Pika," even "Pipsqueak")

In the game, the day-night cycle plays a big role in the gameplay. You'll be allowed to roam and explore as much as you want, but at night, you're given the choice of whether you should go to bed or keep exploring. If the player chooses to continue exploring, they'll be met with an energy meter, which increases when you sleep and decreases when you don't. With a full bar, the player can explore a total of five times, and once that meter runs out, they get too exhausted and fall asleep

Now would be a good time to mention the player's different bedrooms. They rotate based on the location, but they're meant to be a sort of safe space for the player, it's also the area where they pick up an important item: A journal

The journal functions very similarly to a scribble board and an actual notebook but serves one purpose, to allow the player to take notes on certain puzzles. Different puzzles are scattered across the landmarks, some are extremely difficult and require one to jot notes

I also like to think the player would receive a variety of tools during their journey and will each be essential. Which would lead the player to carry a bag to hold said items

For the purpose of the story, the player is able to respawn if they die. Remember the alter in the silver tree forest, they wake up there like nothing happened, although they do still retain the memories of said death

The player will engage in several minigames, the most common of them being a cooking style game where you prepare meals and ones where your using certain tools. Whilst the click & point portion consists of the player exploring the different areas & interacting with their surroundings

As a bonus, the player is gifted different outfits from the beasts, each one corresponding to the beast, their interests, and their theme

~Shadow Milk~

In the many eyes of Shadow Milk, the player is the only cookie he's seen in a while, so it's obvious he'd want them to be his audience, if you ever so chose to be. They get the option of asking more & trying to convince him on letting them have a turn in performing, which he'll have different reactions to

*You're reading the scripts of one of Shadow Milk's plays, in awe at the material. You compliment his work, making him all the more flattered*

"Oh I love acting! Your script is amazing, could I try acting some things out?"

*Hearing the question, Shadow Milk snatches the script from your hands. He almost snaps at you*

"What? No, of course not!"

"I'm sorry my dear, I adore your praise but. . . we've already established who the audience is! It's the key tool of any actor's career, and without that, we'd just be two actors with no one to entertain. . ."

"Besides, I think you'd have trouble trying to impress such a seasoned performer like myself~"

Despite his condescending comments, he slowly begins to let you act out small skits as their relationship with him becomes stronger, and he begins to cave

Shadow Milk has several references to acting, the stage, and plays, it would be a sin to not give this man a rhythm game. Similar to already existing rhythm games like "Rhythm Heaven" or the rhythm game portion in "Obey Me"

Every task, no matter how minimal or simple, becomes way more difficult with Shadow Milk. If you're just as much as a theater kid as he is, his need for literally everything to be a grand, exaggerated, obnoxious spectacle, especially around the player, is strong. Half the time, things don't go his way & he winds up making a mess, messes which the player is forced to clean up

Also, most everything he does requires a quick "costume change" thems the rules. He's cooking you breakfast? He's wearing a bright pink apron with frills and a heart-shaped pocket. You get hurt and scrape your knee? Here comes Dr. Shadow Milk in his doctor's uniform and stethoscope. The two of you are getting ready for bed? You'll be seeing him in striped pajamas, an extremely long nightrobe, fuzzy slippers and a sleep mask, including hair curlers

There will absolutely be no sneaking out on his domain, not on his watch! Shadow Milk, with his abilities, is a living security system, and reacts heavily to sound. So one snap of a twig or step on some creaking floorboards and it's over!

"*Ahem!*"

*A freakishly familiar voice is heard from behind you. Breaking into a sweat, you slowly turn around, the smallest part of you wished it wasn't who you thought it was. . . But as luck would have it, you didn't know any other crazy entertainers. . . Sure enough, it was exactly who'd you expected to see, Shadow Milk stood in front of you, arms crossed and everything*

"Just where do you think you're going?"

*You try playing it cool, although sweating a bit*

"Oh hey Shadow. . . I was just about to head out and-"

"Head out? At this time?!"

"I-I'm not gonna be gone for too long! I'll come right back after promise- *ah!*"

*Shadow Milk had already scooped you up, carrying you bridal style*

"That's quite enough! I can't have my only audience member getting drowsy during one of my shows, now can I?~"

*You were embarrassed beyond belief, even more once he started walking you to your room, and abruptly boops you on the nose*

"It's off to bed with you little mousey!~"

". . . ok(;w;). . ."

He takes much pride & joy in inconveniencing the player, purely for his own entertainment. What makes it worse is that he'll always find some sort of excuse, saying how it's "to punish them" and "to teach them how to do it right," just some of the lies they have to deal with

And that's not all, you think he started there? nope! He started lying to the player the second the two of them met. Seeing the player scared and alone in his domain, he didn't miss an opportunity to mess with the player's head. Fortunately, this does change as you begin to get closer with him, he starts being more open with the player

The outfit Shadow Milk gives the player is, although the tackiest thing on earthbread(if the player decides that it is), the most practical of the outfits they'll receive. It has a sort of German fairytale vibe to it, covered head to toe in ruffles, lace, bells, overly detailed designs, and of course, colored blue. It looks like, feels like, and is a costume, but despite its cheesy appearance, it's easy to run & move in

Out of all the beasts, Shadow Milk is the one who cares the most for the player's physical well-being. He's always making sure the player's eating enough, getting sleep, and most importantly, is happily entertained. It's been far too long since he was able to put on his plays, and he's gonna make sure they have the ability to sit through them

All and all, Shadow Milk is a well-meaning, all be it annoying, roommate

~Eternal Sugar~

She was always keen on learning most of the trickster's secrets, so finding out about the player, she became both upset yet understanding. Shadow Milk was the Cookie of Deceit after all

Regardless, Eternal Sugar found it quite unfair of him to keep them all to himself, and took it upon herself to steal the player away, via using one of her clouds

*While wandering by yourself within Shadow Milk's domain, you peer up at the unearthly, but normally blue sky, to see what seemed to be clouds suspiciously hovering over you*

Bewildered and curious, the player has the decision of either ignoring it or checking it out, but each will end in the clouds scooping up the player and taking them, all the way to Eternal Sugar Cookie

First meeting the player, she's admittingly unimpressed with what she sees, to think something so important to them would be reduced to such a simple creature. . ? But that mindset quickly changes as she discovers how adorable the player is, and just how naive they are. . .

She views the player as some sort of pet, spoiling them with all the goodies they can ever want, to a point where its almost overwhelming

*On a table, a large platter of sweets is set in front of you; you're almost tooken back by the sheer size of the dish, it was almost half the size of the table! Just sitting next to you was Eternal Sugar, smiling almost amusingly at your reaction*

"U-Uh. . . Is this all for me. . ?"

*She giggled*

"Of course it is dear! What sort of guest would you be if you didn't receive such delicacies?"

*Eternal Sugar picks up a sweet from the platter and holds it close to your mouth*

"Now, open wide~"

Unlike the other beasts, Eternal Sugar has the habit of babying the player, so like Shadow Milk, every simple task becomes way more difficult with her around. She'll make sure they won't be able to lift a finger!

Her associative minigame fits her sort of style, a memory game using cards, similar to the many games you can find on those "Kid-friendly Newgrounds" websites

Another thing worth noting is her clingy nature. Everywhere the player goes, Eternal Sugar has to follow, which does make things more difficult and affects progress. The prime definition of a space invader

It gets even worse during the night cycle, where she often insists on sleeping in the same bed as the player. Despite this, night is the only time the player will be able to get anything done. Just know that when they got back to bed and woke up the next morning, they'll have a sweet surprise waiting for them

*Morning light shines onto your face as it creeps into the rest of the room. You groan, awoken by your natural alarm clock, and begin to yawn & stretch, a part of you wished you slept in a bit longer. But as you try to get out of bed, you feel a weight on your right hand, better yet, you feel an entire section of the bed being weighed down by some unknown force. Turning around, you quickly discover why*

"E-Eternal Sugar Cookie! What are you-?!"

*There, covering a good half of the bed, Eternal Sugar Cookie was peacefully snoozing, clutching your hand. In your failed attempts at yelling at her & pulling your hand away were left to no avail, she had no intent on moving, nor letting go, making you all the more flustered*

"Ms. Eternal Sugar Cookie, please!- Let me go! I need-"

*She merely lifted one eye, only half awake and ready to sleep the rest of the day away*

"Awh~ but little mouse, it's so early!~ Can't you stay just a bit longer?~"

*She smiles at your flustered expression*

"But I have stuff to do! Please, you have to let me- *ah!-* h-hey!"

*Too busy trying to escape, you failed to notice her grip getting tighter, pulling you back down your now shared bed*

"Sleep a little more with me, won't you? There's no rush~"

"O-ok, fine then, but only for a couple more minutes, but that's it!"

*She giggled*

"Deal~"

Throughout their stay, the player only gets small snippets of Eternal Sugar's true personality. If the player chose to question her sickly sweet demeanor, she'd get defensive real fast, asking them why they would even question something like that. If angered, she becomes pushy, demanding, especially when the player doesn't do what she says

It becomes increasingly clear when Eternal Sugar gives you a new outfit, since the one you're wearing (aka the outfit Shadow Milk gave you) didn't fit her style, believing that you should wear something more flowy. She actually offers several different outfits for the player, and although nice, they're. . . let's just say not so family friendly; try as they might to reject her offers, she'll get upset and more persistent, nonetheless; this however does change as the story goes on, she becomes more understanding. Luckily, the two manage to make a compromise, Eternal Sugar offers the player a much simpler pink dress, with bows, lace, and ribbons. Despite being much to the player's liking(if that's what the player chooses), she begins to whine about it, saying how it could've been so much more; not to mention, both the ribbons and lace constantly get stuck on things if they aren't careful

The only time the player's able to really see Eternal Sugar's true colors is when Shadow Milk shows up, who's not all too happy about her basically kidnapping the player. Whilst they ventured alone, he made the mistake of taking his eyes off them for a second, last thing he knew they were snatched by some clouds and whisked away into the sky, which he immediately starts chasing after them. He knew exactly who was responsible. Unlike Shadow Milk, Eternal Sugar does a much better job of keeping her composure, playing dumb and refraining from acting out of character around the player. But once Shadow Milk insults her fake personality, all hell breaks loose

"Well, well, well, if it isn't my dear friend. . .?~ Eternal Sugar Cookie. . !"

*Shadow Milk had snuck in through an open window. Before you could even do anything, Eternal Sugar had already pulled you to her side, forcing you to sit in the lavish and comfortable sofa she was lounging on. He made his way towards her, with his usual wide smile; from the corner of your eye, you could barely see an eye twitch and, was he gritting his teeth? It didn't look like it, but he was seething with rage*

"Oh, Shadow Milk Cookie!~ for what do I owe the pleasure?~"

"How lovely of you to ask!~ You see, you just so happen to have something that belongs to me!"

*Shadow Milk then stares back at you, startling you a bit with his crazed expression. Although Eternal Sugar seemed unfazed, her grip on you only became tighter as the trickster started speaking to you*

"Little mousey, there you are!~ Oh I was so worried, thank goodness you're safe!~"

"I am so, so, sorry to have kept you waiting~ believe me, it's a long story!~"

"*Ah!* And what happened to the little dress I gave you?! I mean you still look cute, but you'd look so much better before and- oh! almost got off track for a second!~ *haha!*"

"Alrighty, I think it's time for me and my little mousey to get go-"

"You're leaving with them? Now what would be the purpose in that?~"

*She quickly shifted from her lounging position to a sitting position, pulling you closer toward her, and flustering you more. You see the trickster's eye twitch more, noticing just a crack in his character*

"*hehe-* what did you say. . ?!"

"I've tooken quite the liking to 'your' little mouse!~ Besides, you keeping them all to your self. . ? Extremely unfair of you!~"

*She then draped her arms around you, your face was getting redder by the second*

"Surely they'll be much happier here, isn't that right little mouse?~"

"Well, *uhh-* actually. . ."

"Then it's settled!~ The little mouse will be staying with me!~"

*They proceeded to argue back and forth, Shadow Milk's played up character was falling apart at the seams, losing a drop of his patience with every word the "angel" said. Eternal Sugar found herself quite entertained with the trickster getting angrier and angrier. All the while, you didn't know what to do, clearly neither of them were going to let you leave, or you know, let you get a single word in. So you were placed in a very awkward situation, stuck between an angel cookie who wasn't keen on you leaving, and a jester who was trying to get you back through gritted teeth*

"Listen, I'm the one who saw them first, they were found in my domain, therefore, they're mine! So if you would be so kind as to return them to me. . !"

*She proceeded to hold you closer, practically cuddling you, was she trying to make him even angrier?!*

"Oh but we're having so much fun!~ They'd much prefer it here than that over-the-top spiral you call a tower. . !"

*Insulting his domain was the nail in the coffin. It looked like he'd finally snapped, any ounce of patience he had before was completely out the window. Using his magic, he wrapped up your hands in some mysterious string, pulling you forward and out of Eternal Sugar's reach, greatly shocking and scaring the heck out of you. Once you were back in his arms, Shadow Milk pushed you behind him, and looking back at Eternal Sugar, she'd gotten up from the sofa, it seemed like she was starting to crack as well*

"Oh!~ So that's how we're gonna play *huh?!* Then I'll lend you this: do you really think they'd want to stay with a tooth-rotting prick like yourself?!"

*She began to clutch her fists, her eyes widen in a mix of shock and anger*

". . ?! What did you just call me. . ?!"

"Oh don't you give me that! little miss 'sweet & innocent angel!' unlike myself, people can see your fake persona from a mile away!~"

"And with how long they had to stay with you. . . I'm surprised my poor little mousey hasn't gotten sick and vomited from the spoiling and smothering they had to withstand!"

*That was all it took for her, she broke faster than he did, the wings on her back got bigger, Eternal Sugar's eyes glowed with rage*

". . . how dare you. . !"

"HOW DARE YOU!!"

The player obviously gets the choice of trying to stop the fight or slipping away, the following events escalating faster or slower depending on which they choose. Things escalate to a point where Eternal Sugar just snatched them and attempted to fly away with the player, which led to Shadow Milk using his magical strings to pull them back, entering the two of them in an intense game of tug of war with the player. And the force of both sides was so strong. . . It ended up ripping the player in half

So, Eternal Sugar Cookie, kinda pushy at times and very clingy all the time, but a sweetheart nonetheless

~Mystic Flour~

Getting ripped in half by two powerful beings. . . not something you would easily forget. . . You'd expect this to be game over, right? well, wrong, cause upon miraculously waking up, not only do you find yourself on top a strange alter, but face to face with Mystic Flour Cookie

Seeing the clouds of Eternal Sugar Cookie's cloud soaring past her land, she immediately could tell that something was a mist, and strolling through the silver forest and finding the player laying on the strange alter, her suspicions were correct

At first, she couldn't believe it, a cookie, in their world?! But after a proper meeting with the player and asking how they ended up on the alter, she became a bit more pitiful, going on to invite them to her domain, such a clueless cookie shouldn't be left alone!

But talking about what was basically their death is pretty traumatizing, so the player is given the choice of whether to straight up lie, or give some part of the truth

"So, you have no memory of how you ended up on this alter. . ? Nothing at all?"

*Your voice was strained, you didn't want to tell her the full truth*

"N-no, not a lot. . ."

*Mystic Flour then proceeds to grasp both your cheeks, pulling you close to her face, much to your slight embarrassment*

"Oh, you poor thing! You must be so lost, so confused. . ."

*It was that moment when an idea sprung into her, an idea that may help the both of you. . .*

"How about you come with me?~ Surely you'll be much safer!~"

*Try as you might to decline her offer, she just becomes more insistent. She was giving decent points however, you were lost and confused, not to mention trapped in this witch-forsaken place, and the only two "cookies" you knew killed you, accidently or not, you couldn't decide. . . Eventually, after lots of convincing and growing tired, you finally cave, accepting her offer*

"Ok, fine, I'll go with you"

"Oh good! Well, come along then!~"

*Gently, Mystic Flour took your hand, pulling you off the alter, and guiding you through the silver woods*

Mystic Flour had already made herself sound quite trustworthy, but of course, this can't be without some sort of catch. . . Though she looks caring on the outside, she sees the player as a mere tool, a stepping stool for something much greater. Her methods of getting information is much more subtle

Both minigames mentioned before required some sort of skill, Mystic Flour's is no exception. Similar to classic video game "Snake," the player's goal is to fill the respected area using dragons instead of snakes (wonder why?)

Pretty much the minute the two of them enter her domain, she basically gives them free range to do whatever. She doesn't really care if the player wanders too far or gets into spaces they shouldn't. But she will let you know when it's time to head back

*As the sun starts to set, you continue to search about the area like a curious child, you hardly noticed Mystic Flour standing just behind you*

"Little pika, dear it's time to head back!~"

*Hearing her voice yelling out to you so suddenly just barely startled you, but you gained back your composure once you see her warm smile*

"Oh! Hi Mystic Flour Cookie! Just give me a second, I have to check a few more things!"

*It wasn't like you weren't going to listen to her orders, you just had a bit more to do. But watching you get farther & farther away from her; Mystic Flour saw it differently. Already making her way toward you, she proceeded to scoop you into her arms, startling you and plastering blush onto your face, as she started walking you back herself*

"*ah!*W-Wait! Mystic Flour Cookie, I wasn't done ye-!"

"I know, I know, dear, you have your little tasks!~ But you'll have so much time to do them tomorrow, so please, might we head back? I'm sure the food is getting cold!"

*With you being in her grasp and your legs being very much off the ground, there wasn't really a choice to keep going. You could've kicked and screamed, but there were doubts that'd even work. . . And so, with no other options, you let her take you away, which sucked, but hey, at least you have yummy food waiting for you!*

Mystic Flour has the sheer amount of enthusiasm as an overly supportive mother, she has not a clue of what the player is doing but they're doing great! But like some mothers, she tries a more "hands off" approach as a way to set rules, intentionally not telling the player helpful information just for the sake of them learning it themselves

She does, however, provide them with all the materials to do so: a bedtime routine, plenty of food, and a warm winter outfit. Speaking of which, due to the wintery background, Mystic Flour gives them an outfit most suitable to withstand the cold, something heavy, but also angelic, a nun like dress colored a soft yellow, complete with black counterparts. The only downside is that defending the player from the cold is its only purpose, for it is much too heavy anywhere else and unbearable in hotter areas

Unlike the other beasts mentioned, Mystic Flour has no interest in forming a genuine relationship with the player. To her, you only serve one purpose, finding her escape (whatever that means) and is more direct into reaching her goal. She creates a false sense of security between the two of them, then when the time is right, uses that bond to her advantage. Fortunately, this behavior does change as the story continues, and Mystic Flour becomes more interested, and attached, to the player, but for now, her methods remain neutral

This becomes more apparent as Mystic Flour tries getting information out of the player in a sort of therapeutic way, sitting them down and letting them speak about their troubles, starting with the obvious. . .

"And. . . that's pretty much what happen. . ."

*You laid atop the much larger cookie, your head resting on her lap as she lightly massaged your hair. You rub your hands uncomfortably, as if waiting for bad news, your throat felt strained. Sandwiched between two angry beings, getting pulled into the sky then ripped in two, these were memories you weren't ready to revisit, especially with someone you've met only a few moments ago. . . At the same time, was holding this deep inside healthy? You saw life flash before your eyes, seconds before being split in half. . . Besides, you were already holding onto so much. . . would it hurt to let go of some. . . You felt Mystic Flour let go of your hair as she began running her hand on your face*

"Oh you, poor, poor, dear. . ."

"I am so sorry you had to be apart of. . . that. . ."

*Although you couldn't see her face, she sounded genuinely sorry for you, which was quite refreshing considering everything you've been through so far*

"They can be rather selfish at times, only thinking about themselves. . . You're lucky you've ended up with me!~"

*You laughed at her remark, trying to brighten up the mood, despite still feeling, well, you didn't know what to feel at that point. . .*

"*Heh* Yeah. . . I guess you're right. . ."

*Unannounced to you, Mystic Flour smiled to herself, her plan was working swimmingly. . . Having brought you to a docile state, it was more than a better time to gather the information she'd been longing for. . .*

"If you would allow me to. . . may I ask you something else?"

*You think for a minute, it was only one question, what harm could it do. . .*

"*Uh* sure. . . what is it?"

"Well little pika, you see-"

*Before the words could fall out of her mouth, there was a sudden loud BANG noise from outside. Respectfully, this startles you, making you flinch, but Mystic Flour didn't seem to move. . . Looking back up, you were finally able to see her face, she seemed irritated, annoyed. Gently, she lifted your head off her lap, resting you onto your knees, confused, you turn to her and saw that she was already standing, looking down upon you. She mumbled something under her breath*

"*Ugh* At a time like this. . ?!"

"Just a moment pika. . . I have to handle something. . ."

Mystic Flour considers herself to be the mother figure of the beasts, and although uncompassionate at times, she plays her role well

~Burning Spice~

(Literally the most perfect segway!~)

All it took was Shadow Milk and Eternal Sugar fighting for Burning Spice Cookie to want a part of the action. Last where we left off with them, the two managed to split the player in half, insides and everything, and were now freaking out over their (very much dead) body, whilst arguing over whose fault it was. By sheer coincidence, did Burning Spice decide to check up on Eternal Sugar, and catches site of the two yelling at each other

Burning Spice hasn't met the player, doesn't know who they are nor what they look like, but he took immediate interest in them after seeing how they affected the two other beasts. If just their mutilated body was enough to cause them to start screaming and crying like little kids, who knows what else they could do. . .

Already, he was making assumptions of what kind of person they'd be, perhaps the player was someone strong and intimidating, someone perfect to be his sparring partner, and continues to deny any sort of actual description of them

Him, Shadow Milk, Eternal Sugar had mostly worked together in their search for the player, but the millisecond they found out they were with Mystic Flour, the race was on. . . Which takes us to now, where Burning Spice appears first, causing a massive scene with his abilities in an attempt to lure her out

*Alerted by the sudden destruction just outside, Mystic Flour rushed to her outer balcony, irritated like this had happened before. . . She knew exactly who the culprit was, and sure enough, there he was, sitting casually atop the balcony's railing, Burning Spice greeted her with a sinister look on his face. She had already prepared herself, immediately knowing that something was about to go down*

"There she is, Misty! Long time no see!"

"Burning Spice Cookie. . . what brings you here. . ?"

"*Oh!* I think you know exactly why I'm here!"

*Getting off the railing, he walked toward his comrade, having no use in making a big deal out of it. Mystic Flour, although slightly surprised, saw it as a sort of threat, only further did she stand her ground*

"Ya see, a little birdie told me that you've been hiding a shiny new treasure from us. And I, of course, thought it'd be too good to be true. . . So I decided to drop by to take a look for myself. . !"

*He tried walking around her to reach the balcony's entrance, but before he could take another step, Mystic Flour stopped him, she wouldn't back down that easily. . .*

"There is no such thing. . . whatever is in my possession is none of your business. . !"

*In her defensive state, Burning Spice's persistence only grew, now patting her shoulder almost reassuringly*

"Hey, c'mon Misty!~ we're buddies, pals! Letting me get a tiny sneak peek shouldn't be a problem!"

"Say, how about this? You let me see what you're hiding, and I promise, I won't tell the others, I'll even let ya keep it! So what do ya say?~"

*Not even seconds after he said that, he immediately tried pushing past Mystic Flour as if she'd already answered his question. Of course, she shut that down almost instantly, even pushing him back, something which he doesn't really take well. His eyes widened, she set him off by just that push alone. She could bluntly tell he was lying, only using their relationship as an excuse, so she didn't let him any closer*

"Burning Spice Cookie, we've known each other for eons, do you really think I wouldn't be able to recognize one of your petty excuses. . . ?! "

"If you knew better, you'd be wise enough to leave, for this so-called treasure you're after, I know nothing about!"

*Pushing and telling him to leave. . . yep, that'll do it. . . Burning Spice broke into laughter as his hair began to glow warms shades of red, orange, and yellow, moving like a sea of flames*

"*HA HA HA HAHAHA!* *Oh!* Misty, ya might just make me angry!"

*His tone quickly shifts from trigger-happy to overall threatening once he'd opened his eyes, now just as bright as his hair, he marches towards Mystic Flour, who was all the more irritated and unfazed*

"And you. . . don't wanna make me angry. . !"

"Make you angry?! *Heh!* Didn't know it was so easy to mess with that small brain of yours!"

*It isn't long before the two engage in full on battle, both sides being equally matched in some way. While this was all happening, you were completely unaware; being inside exploring, you're none the wiser of the destruction going on outside*

Eventually, Burning Spice does manage to bust his way inside, and upon actually seeing the player in their simple state, he couldn't be more disappointed, to think Shadow Milk and Eternal Sugar's bickering would be caused by such a boring little cookie(but those two do fight over a lot of things, so-)

He'd almost considered leaving them, but Burning Spice would rather leave with something than nothing, so taking his losses he hoists up the player over his shoulder and makes, a not so quiet, escape. Much to Mystic Flour's dismay and the player's protests (or cries for help depending on what they choose)

Burning Spice sees the player like how a general sees a soldier. He thinks they're weak, bland, and more notably boring, and wants to, in his words, "spice them up." Because of this, he is unnecessarily harsh, working the player to the bone and expecting them to "get up" when they get too tired

*How long has it been. . ? An hour? Two hours? At that point you didn't know, but all you did know is that it felt like an eternity since Burning Spice started your so called "training." Back and forth, you were forced to run with heavy rocks on your back whilst following him, who was doing the same. All the while he'd yell at you to pick up the pace as encouragement. . .You huffed and panted*

"*Hah**hah. . .* Burning Spice Cookie, please, can't we stop for. . . just a minute. . ?"

*It was the only time he'd turn back at you, what a ridiculous ask!*

"What?! Definitely not! ya still got a lot to go, pipsqueak!"

*You couldn't go on any longer. A mess of sweat and sore bones, you plummet to the ground, numb to the rocks currently on your back, you wanted rest, at least for a minute. . . Burning Spice only reached a good distance away before noticing you were far, far behind. He ran back to you, but not because he was worried*

"Ay! Pipsqueak, what's the holdup?!"

*He crouched down, better viewing your shriveled up body, far too weak to keep going. Despite the obvious, Burning Spice still tried getting you to stand, poking, even attempting to pull you off the ground, but you won't budge. . .*

"C'mon! Quit acting like Eternal Sugar Cookie and get moving!"

"Please. . . let me rest. . ."

*Your sweat could've well stained the ground if it were cool enough. . . You were stubborn & refused to get up, becoming a puddle of flesh. Realizing that you weren't moving, he, grudgingly, decides to do what was best, but first he had to move you somewhere more suitable to your needs*

"*Ugh* Alright! Fine! I'll let you outta this, only once!"

*Swiftly brushing the rocks off your back, he scoops you up and onto his shoulder, no way would he let you die right then and there. You suddenly feel the biggest weight being literally lifted off your shoulders, thanking whatever was out there for this moment*

"I'll let you rest, but not here!"

"*Heh* Thank you. . ."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever!"

Everything Burning Spice does, he expects the player to do the same, no matter how difficult. But will give them the benefit of the doubt when the player gets too tired to keep going, much to his annoyance

He's active and moving 24/7, that's why Burning Spice's minigame is directly based on "Super Mario Bros" where the player runs about collecting items, attacking enemies, etc.

If the player is talking to him, he'll most entirely talk about himself, boosting his ego, even throwing insults at the other beasts, which is both annoying and ironic because he does the exact same things that they do. That being said, it's important to never get mad at him or give him attitude because it will work him up, for better or worse. . .

The player can easily get information from him due to his blunt honesty. When talking about the other beasts, he'll always give bits of helpful information about them, some that can be extremely helpful in the future

Similar to Mystic Flour, Burning Spice gives the player free range to do whatever, the only difference is that Burning Spice sets up these "training sessions" on random occasions without notifying the player firsthand, and expects them to drop everything to train with him. This exhausts the player, causing them to only be able to do things during the day, when they've required enough rest

*Stumbling into the room Burning Spice gave you, you flop onto the bed, nestling your head against your pillow, relived. You were finally able to rest your jelly legs, sore running around and doing tasks. But you turn to your side, something catches your eye. . . On the single window of your room, you noticed what looked to be a slip of paper. Despite being entirely drained, your curiosity got the better of you, and slipping from the bed, you make your way toward the windowsill, now realizing how out of place from the rest of the room, appearing more of a light lilac than any of the reds and oranges. You questioned if even came from the place, and upon proper examination, your suspicions seemed correct. . . This was no mere paper, but a letter! Curiosities only felt more rapid as you opened, revealing not only short message crafted in cursive, but a beautiful illustration of a rose*

"Small Rodent, have you been faring well within our world? Have you been eating, sleeping well? I hope the others hadn't been too cruel towards you. . . Word of mouth does not travel fast here, so I apologize if I arrive to you late. . . I wish to reach you soon. . ."

"From- Silent Salt Cookie"

"Small Rodent. . ?"

*Reading through the passage, you took a few seconds to process, hoping that whoever sent it wasn't suggesting what you thought they were suggesting, cause if you got kidnapped one more time. . .-*

"Aye! Pipsqueak!!"

*Burning Spice had, without warning, busted into the room, no time for internal dialogue now! With milliseconds to think, you swiftly hide the letter behind your back, not before confronting the brute for his sudden excursion of your privacy*

"B-Burning Spice Cookie?! What are you doing here?!-"

"What?~ I can't check on my little pipsqueak, can't I?~"

*Again with the nickname. .?! Blushing rapidly, you couldn't tell whether you were annoyed, angry, or just plain embarrassed. . . Burning Spice laughed boastingly, always amused by your expressions*

"*HAHAHAH!~* Ya never fail to entertain me, pipsqueak!~"

*Then he noticed the arms behind your back. . .*

"Say, whatcha got there? Ya hiding something from me?"

*Shoot! the letter was still in your hands! Only seeing this as more of a reason to keep it hidden, you play it cool for as much as possible*

"I-It's nothing! W-What are you talking about?!*hehe*"

*Burning Spice just saw your actions as even more suspicious, he might be a barbarian, but he isn't stupid. He attempted turning you around to see what exactly you were keeping from him, all the while you were trying to dodge him, cold sweat beginning to run down your forehead*

"Are ya sure? Cause *uh* ya starting to look pretty sweaty there. . ."

"Oh!- this?! *Uhh. . .* I'm just, tired! from all the training today *haha!*"

*You two do this dance a bit, with you becoming doubly irritated the more Burning Spice tried seeing what you're hiding, getting additionally irritated while Burning Spice looked completely willing to tear your front open, asking and reinsuring you, again and again to get a little looksee. And you thought Shadow Milk was nosy?! Annoying and driven to your breaking point, you practically yell at him-*

"IT'S NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS, OK?!"

*Hearing those words fall out of your mouth, Burning Spice is beyond tooken aback, clearly, he didn't like being told what to do. You quickly gasp to yourself, slamming your mouth closed with a free hand upon realizing what you've just said, how could you be so stupid?! With the letter still in your other hand, you decide the best course of action was to crumble up the paper, that letter was the least of your worries now anyway. . .*

"Did. . .Did you just yell at me. . ?!"

*You gulped, your sweat becoming increasingly apparent as the brute looked seconds away from having steam shoot out his ears. He proceeds to get unnervingly close, practically towering over you. . .Didn't think it would end this way. . .*

"That. . . Is. . ."

"Great!!!"

"Ya getting spicier by the minute!"

*Burning Spice grabbed both your shoulders, and shook them with excitement, much to your bewilderment. The way his tone can just shift was both jarring and impressive. After a bit of violent shaking and surviving what would've been another death experience, he eventually lets go, not before giving you a hardy slap to the back whilst laughing, dang near knocking you off your feet and the letter out of your hand*

"*HA! HA!* Ya know what!? Take the rest of the day off! I wanna see my hard work!"

*He happily marches out of the room, leaving you in a rather messed up state*

"Be sure to get all the rest ya need! Ya gonna need it for tomorrow!"

*Burning Spice leaves the room, shutting the door, the second he was out of sight, you took the biggest sigh of relief. That was close, way too close! Like you practically dodged a bullet! You pull back out the crumbled-up letter and tried to fix it, somewhat regretting your decision of almost destroying it before. You had to be more careful next time*

During this entire scene, the player must be extra careful around Burning Spice, because despite how it's played, there's a route where he discovered the letter while they're asleep, and he's not too pleased with having Silent Salt trying to contact them, promptly getting so angry he burns the letter to ashes

That being said, Burning Spice, though seeming like a rage-filled brute who fights first and asks questions later, he's never threatening nor outright violent to the player, unless its a final resort. The player is a much-needed piece in a, all be it complex, puzzle, even if they don't even know it, and in order for them to work is through gaining their trust. But don't think that this is a good thing, there are many times where he could've hurt them yet actively chose not to

He immediately got to work constructing another outfit for the player cause in his own words, "there's no way ya staying here looking like that!" And the outfit he gives them perfectly reflects his ego, slick black clothing, paired with red barbaric accents, and brightly colored armor, making the player look like a mini version of himself. It's good enough for the endless training they have to do, but it's clear that some parts of the outfit were put together at the last second and were made from the minimal sewing Burning Spice learned. And if wanting to be honest, it's kinda ugly. . . Overall, it's the player's least favorite of the outfits given (if they decide it is)

Every hour, it feels like Burning Spice is always learning something new about the player, to him at least. Because of this, he celebrates every accomplishment they make with lavished (and very spicy) feasts, no matter how small they might be. Not exactly the best prize for basically being slaved away constantly to a point of exhaustion, but he doesn't need to know that. The only downside to this is that he's loud, like really loud, so loud in fact, he can't hear any other voices but his own, making him clearly oblivious to a certain someone stealing away the player(-again)

So Burning Spice, a not-so great roommate, but a pretty good personal trainer

~Silent Salt~

Ever since leaving Shadow Milk's site, someone else had been watching the player for some time, someone who wasn't too distant from the player, none other than the silent knight themself, Silent Salt Cookie

Once they found out about the player, there wasn't an ounce of disbelief nor hesitation that got into their head, they only had one goal in mind, and that was getting the player out of the other beasts' hands. But like a hungry wolf with its meal, they knew it wouldn't be easy. The other beasts always kept the player at arm's length, even with the leisure they receive, those four always made sure they were watched. And so they waited, and waited, and waited. . . In till they had the right moment to strike

Normally the beasts would be more direct when approaching the player, probably showing some pity towards them, not before whisking them away, Silent Salt on the other hand had a more different approach. They'd leave small letters for the player, all written in cursive and paired with a beautifully drawn illustration which they constructed themselves. Silent Salt essentially gives the player a bread crumb trail, preparing them for what was to come as to not spook them later

"Last one to get back to the base goes stale!"

"Burning Spice Cookie! Wait up!"

*You two were only trying to get back. . . nothing too special, yet of course, Burning Spice just had to turn it into a game of tag, didn't he?! Already tired from the day's activities, you struggled to move forward, and the barbarian is way ahead. Despite how unfair, annoying, and exhausting it was, you sighed, it wasn't the first time he did this. . . As you forced your body further, all you cared about was getting rest. You never understood why Burning Spice pushed your body to such lengths, but if there was one other reason to keep going it was to spite him. But as you were about halfway there, an unknown force suddenly grabbed your arm and pulled you to the side, you yelped, why does everyone here like grabbing you!?*

"*AH!* W-What the!?-"

*Pulled into an unnoticed corner, you practically swing yourself around, already having a good idea of just who decided to yank you out of the way, and you got what you wished for. . . Hovering over your tiny body, was the silent knight themself, quiet and unmoving, looking down at you. . . You jump back a bit startled, those training sessions are sounding a lot better right now. . . Although frozen with fear, it didn't take long to realize that something wasn't right. Sure, they appeared in front of you but that was merely it, just standing there, menacingly, almost like a statue. Your fear quickly dissolves into pure confusion as you stare back at them, the moment shifting into awkward silence. You already had a decent idea of who this fellow might be, and decided to use it as a way to break the barrier between you two*

"*Um. . .* Hi. . ."

"Y-You're Silent Salt Cookie, right. . ?"

*It took them a second to respond, and by "respond" they actually crouched down and got extremely close to your face, adding to your bewilderment, and barely managing to keep your composure*

"*ah!-* I'm gonna take that as a yes. . !"

*As a result of being thrown around so much, you practically knew what was next, but seeing the knight so still felt alien to you, and almost refreshing. . ? Like you were happy to just not be snatched for once, as morbid as that sounds. Oh but no, that's not right, who's to say that this fellow was to be trusted. You make the bold choice to ask them more questions, but before another word could fall out of your mouth. . .*

"Aye Pipsqueak! What's the hold up!?"

It's a no-brainer that Burning Spice finally noticed the player's absence, they have the rightful decision of running to him or yelling out, which Silent Salt covers their mouth and attempts to take them away(what a surprise!) The second route, however, the player's (4th) kidnapping is put on display for Burning Spice, who did not handle the situation well. He immediately rushes in to save them, but Silent Salt was much too swift for him. All the while, the player attempts to save themselves; trying to kick, scream, and squirm their way to freedom, but nothing works, they were a knight after all. Enraged, Burning Spice yells at Silent Salt that he'll get revenge, and he won't be alone. . !

(And before we go on any further, I personally like to hc that Silent Salt is both mute and deaf because 1. it matches with the new ancient heroes since Pure Vanilla is heavily implied to be blind; and 2. it'd make sense that the witches would want to make a disabled cookie. During their pre-corruption days, the five virtues also had to be role models for the cookies, thus they had to, at some extent, be relatable. So giving one of the virtues something that other cookies can relate to makes sense. Oh and as a bonus, Silent Salt is completely fluent in ASL and is fairly good at lip reading; Shadow Milk and Mystic Flour are also fluent in ASL and often act as their mouth pieces. Ok moving on!)

You'd think that the player wouldn't trust Silent Salt from the jump, given the circumstances & that this happened to them so many other times, and yet. . . Silent Salt was the only one to be considerate of the player's feelings before performing the act, they knew the player would be scared, if not terrified, of them, especially when you consider their appearance and quiet nature; thus they planted the letter to let them know. So although this doesn't mean the player fully trusts them, it is a step into the right path

How they view the player is a complete mystery, unlike the other beasts, it isn't just spelled out in ink. Instead, the player has to focus on their interactions and certain body language, since they can't speak

Similarly to Eternal Sugar, Silent Salt will often give the player gifts in an attempt to gain their trust. The main difference on the other hand was that those gifts were much smaller scale than what Eternal Sugar gave them, but still feel more thought out and genuine

*Lilac-colored curtain draped over large windows, comfortable sitting, and a bed that resembled a soft marshmallow, you had to admit, for living in a wasteland, they sure knew a thing or two about decor. But as you admired your new bedroom, you get a sudden knock on the door, and opening it a crack, you see Silent Salt, they appeared to be holding a few things*

"Oh! Silent Salt Cookie! What brings you-"

*Fully opening the door revealed what they were holding, a bouquet of beautifully made paper flowers in one hand, and a sliver tin, filled with salted chocolates in the other. Seeing the gifts, you were pleasantly surprised, not just by the tin of sweets but the paper flowers, so true to life and clearly made by them, you were amazed by the fact they were able to pull something like that off*

"Wow! are these for me?"

*The knight nodded their head, handing both gifts to you. Despite how small the gesture was, you still felt a tiny bit overwhelmed, the smallest hint of blush creeped onto your face*

"T-Thank you! They're lovely!"

Silent Salt was & still somewhat is known for their skills with a sword, thus the reason why their minigame is based on "Fruit Ninja." The player, instead of slicing fruit, is made to cut different pieces of paper according to a dotted line, in an attempt to mimic Silent Salt's paper flowers

While out exploring and doing tasks, Silent Salt will actually partner up with the player & help them, which is already a massive change from the player's other beast encounters. Either they'd find ways to stretch the task out even longer, or just not help at all, so having them there is a huge change of pace. They're always by the player's side, because of this, they can come off as clingy at times

They, like most of the beasts, give the player free range to do whatever, but is quick to set boundaries. The player isn't allowed to go into certain areas without their supervision, especially at night

*Lightly tracking your steps across cold floors, you carefully tiptoe through the Silent domain, moonlight streaking onto every nook and cranny acted as your only light source, which you tried to use to your advantage, the last thing you wanted was to be caught. But when you turned the corner, guess who you unceremoniously bumped into. . ? Pressed into their chest, you abruptly backed away startled & flustered realizing who it was, Silent Salt just looked at you, just like before*

"*Ah!-* Silent Salt Cookie. . ! It's not what you think. . !"

"I-I just have a few other things to do, that's all!-"

*The silent knight only stood there, arms crossed, making their stance all the more stern. You already had a good idea of what was going on in their head, no amount of convincing would change your fate. So with a sigh, you started heading back to your room, not before Silent Salt gently scoops you up, refusing to let you touch the floor, and carried you there themself. Blushing rapidly, you beg and plead for them to put you down, but failed miserably; why does everyone like carrying you so much. . ?*

Silent Salt treats the player like they're the most fragile thing on Earthbread, handling them with care and, with their position as a knight, more than happy to cater to their every need and desire

Due to their disability and limitations in lip reading, talking to them is difficult, creating this communication barrier between them and the player. This, however, doesn't stop the two of them from trying to fix the issue

That being said, Silent Salt most definitely wants to teach the player ASL so they can communicate easier. They made sure they'd take their time, teaching them all they need to know, starting with letters, to phrases, to full sentences. Even if the player struggles to learn at first, they're extremely patient with them, teaching things one step at a time

If it wasn't already obvious, Silent Salt is very delicate with their hands, due to their precise skills with a sword. Because of this, they picked up quite a few hobbies, like painting and drawing, clearly showed by the letter they made the player before, and surprisingly, braiding hair

*Slowly, the silent knight carefully overlapped strand after strand of hair from your head into beautiful braids. They put special care into each braid, constantly checking with you to make sure they were comfortable, even going the extra mile of creating more paper flowers to infuse into the braids. Sitting in front of the bedroom's vanity mirror, you were in awe at how perfect the braids were, your hair practically became an art project! Looking back at them, you couldn't see their face, but you could tell Silent Salt was genuinely enjoying themself, how they added flower after flower, even sometimes placing one directly onto your head; because well, why not? It was moments like this that made you think back to when you first met, back to when their silence felt alien to you, and how you were so unwilling to cooperate. . . Yes, you still didn't fully trust the knight, all of this just felt too perfect, almost too good to be true even, but it does. After placing the last flower, they were finally done, the braids were wrapped around your head and tied in the back with a purple ribbon*

If the hairstyle doesn't make them feel like royalty, then don't worry, Silent Salt had them covered. Cause not soon after doing their hair, they presented their outfit, which looked more like a gorgeous gown than any regular dress. Everything about it was perfect, the long white silk trin that partly touched the floor, the bow around the waste that matched your hair, the simple purple accents, its ruffled layers, everything. But possibly the most radiant part of the gown was these beautiful sewn in embroideries, each more beautiful than the last, all throughout. This was the straw that broke that camel's back, such actions of kindness couldn't go unrewarded; so through ASL, the player is able to sign phrases "thank you" and "sorry," to which Silent Salt immediately accepts. Quite a shame the player couldn't do more. . . The only two downside one could think of is that it strongly resembled a wedding dress, which can give the wrong ideas fast; also the gown length gives the possibility of tripping, but that's a simple price to pay

The relationship between the player and Silent Salt is mostly through action, and to some extent, physical touch. The player is always finding new and creative ways to repay them for everything they've done, often finding themselves cooking or cleaning for them, even gifting them drawings and paper creations they made themselves. Silent Salt does find this sweet and charming, but as a knight, they really have no desires. They crave the simpler things, like holding hands, learning ASL, or just being together in general. No amount of wasted paper would change that

Unfortunately, as stated before, not everything can be too blissful. . . Silent Salt is regularly shown to be extremely overprotective of the player, which does make sense considering their role; Silent Salt is a knight, keeping the innocent safe is their job, and the fact that the other beasts were also after them only made them double down on protecting them. Now, Silent Salt, before meeting the player, had no plans of escape, at least even they think of, in fact, became increasingly fond of their surroundings. . . Only when they learned the player did they start to reconsider. . . with a new opportunity, they couldn't simply pass it up. . .

Because of this, they've developed a 6th sense(or 5th or 4th) whenever they felt the player was in danger. Silent Salt can pick up signals of danger from miles away, and acts quickly ensure their safety, so imagine the player's surprise and confusion when being rushed somewhere else

*Everything was a blur. . . One second ago you and Silent Salt were spending time together per usual, before you knew it you were being pulled into your room, and Silent Salt was doing repeated checks on the door and windows, making sure they were locked. Confused, you try to stop them in their tracks, to get some sort of answer, but all they did was clutch both your hands tightly, looking you directly in the eyes; before abruptly letting go, telling you to never, for any reason, open the door or windows till they came back, then disappears, leaving you in a state of flustered shock. Even if completely unexpected on your end, it became increasingly clear why Silent Salt acted the way they did. . . with a battle axe, guess who was waiting just outside. . ?*

"Salty! right on time!~ It's been awhile, hasn't it?~"

*The knight merely stood there, sword in hand with a tight grip. They already knew what the brute was saying, him placing the axe's handle on the back of his neck as he began to walk towards them*

"Honestly, I'm pretty surprised Salty!~ Out of everybody here, it's you who'd be dumb enough to steal from me, me!"

"Cause when I think of stealing, I usually think of Shadow Milk Cookie, maybe Eternal Sugar Cookie if what we're after is really worth fighting for, but you?! *HA!* Didn't think of ya as the taking type!~"

"*Hmm. . .* I like it! You know I always love a good surprise?~"

*With every step he took, Silent Salt only further stood their ground, having already pulled their sword out from the dirt and getting into a battle stance. Upon reading their body language, his grin only got bigger, he knew exactly what was doing and actively stirred the pot. He put his hands up as he backed away in a condescending yet reassuring tone*

"*Woah!-* *Woah!-* Easy there buddy!~ Now I know what it looks like, but I promise, I didn't come here to cause trouble. . ."

"Instead, I'm looking for a little. . . exchange. . ."

*Burning Spice proceeded to hold his axe behind his back to make himself appear more innocent. All the while Silent Salt didn't once get out of their battle-ready mindset*

"Now I know I can be a little. . . hectic at times, but for this I'm willing to make one exception. . ."

"Say, I won't leave a scratch on your place, if you return what you've stole from me. . !"

"A simple deal, really!- You get out of this with no causalities, and I leave with that little cookie in tow!~ So what do ya say. . ?"

*Silent Salt was only getting parts of the Burning Spice's so called "deal," and already, they were not having it. . ! With just a blink of an eye, Silent Salt went from guarding their domain to holding the tip of their blade at Burning Spice's throat, as if they teleported, they were that fast. . ! Along with Shadow Milk's lies, none of the beasts were dumb enough to fall for one of his exchanges! The knight was clearly provoked; exactly what the brute wanted, so he kicked back far enough to pull his axe out from his back. Though the kick was strong, Silent Salt was still able to hold their ground, using their sword to keep their footing. There was a battle-hungry look in his eyes*

"*HA HA!* You just love surprising me, don't ya Salty?!"

*He then stretched his neck and shoulders, tense bones popped at the motion. Then proceeded to do his battle stance*

"Whatever! Wouldn't have worked anyway! Besides, no one gets dumber around here, right?! *HA!*"

"But one thing's for sure. . . Doesn't matter how tough you act. . . I'm not leaving without my pipsqueak. . !"

*His tone shifted to slight anger as his hair turned into bright flames. Having weapons drawn, it's clear as day as neither was willing to do what the other wanted, nor give in. Both had goals set in stone and willing to follow through with them; but just before they could actually strike at one and other. . .*

"*Yoo-hoo~* Up here!~"

"Apologizes for being so late you two, we've bumped into some. . . causalities. . ."

*In from above, flew in Eternal Sugar atop one of her clouds as Mystic Flour floated beside her, landing onto opposites of the brute and knight, creating this strange box. Burning Spice became all the happier, being the violence-obsessed cookie he was, this just maybe the fight more interesting for him. While Silent Salt was as stern as ever, despite being outnumbered*

"Misty! Sugar! Welcome to the party!! Just when things were starting to get interesting!~"

"*Ugh* Don't overexcite yourself Burning Spice Cookie, some of us only want this to be over with. . !"

*She has a quick glance at the beasts around her, just as annoyed of as before*

"So . . . I assume we all know about our new. . . 'inhabitant,' yes?"

*The silent knight nodded*

"*Pfft* *Uh Duh!-* What's was ya first clue?!"

"That's right! It's been far too long since I've seen another cookie, and when I finally find one, they're snatched from my hands!"

"Oh my poor little mouse!~ They must've been so lonely since they were taken away from me!"

"Being pushed and pulled by some brute and locked away by some scary knight?!~ What can be worse?!"

*Eternal Sugar whined and whined, nitpicking everything that she deemed "cruel treatment," and although most of the things said were true, Burning Spice couldn't help but take offense*

"Aye! What do ya mean by 'pushing and pulling around?!' I have you know I treat them with utmost respect and care!"

"*HA!* You call your so called 'training' of yours respect and care?! Don't make me laugh!"

"Unlike you, I provide my little mouse with everything they could ever need, everything they desire. . ! I make them happy! All your training does is ruin their perfect mind and body!"

*She looked over to her two other comrades*

"At least I can be assured that those two actually kept them safe, otherwise, I wouldn't know what I'd do. . ."

"Even Shadow Milk Cookie takes better care of my little mouse. . ."

*That's when most of the group realized a crucial detail, where the heck was Shadow Milk?! Unannounced to them, Mystic Flour already had a good idea of where he was, but waited to answer. . .*

"Oh yeah! Shadow Milk Cookie isn't here! Where is the guy anyway?!"

"When we found out the pika was being kept here, we came as soon as possible. But it wasn't long before Shadow Milk separated from us; we tried to pursue him but by then, he was already gone. . ."

"Perhaps we should wait for him. . .Knowing him, he likely has something planned. . !"

*With Shadow Milk being the smartest of their group, waiting for him seemed like the safest option, after all he was known for his tricks, who knows what he could be planning. Yet the brute and angel, who always had something to say, didn't have the patience for such. . .*

"And let him get another chance on stealing my little mouse away again?! Absolutely not!!"

"Yeah Misty, not having Shadow Milk Cookie around means less of us to get through, even if it is kinda boring! *HA HA!*"

"Wouldn't want his filth to rub off on my pipsqueak. . !"

*Eternal Sugar gasped in surprise and utter disgust*

"'Your' Pipsqueak?! are you delusional?! Clearly they're mine!!"

*Burning Spice cracked his knuckles, as he puffed his chest*

"Oh yeah?! Then why don't ya prove it?!"

*Mystic Flour groaned in irritation, if her eyes were open she would have definitely rolled them, this charade was going too far*

"*Ugh* You two are bickering like children! Could you at least not treat them like some object?! It's likely that the pika will return to me or Silent Salt Cookie, at least we don't see them as a mere pet. . !"

*Silent Salt nodded in agreement*

"And yet, I think we all know what we're really after. . . "

*With that sentence alone, it made Burning Spice and Eternal Sugar as quiet as Silent Salt was. . . The whole area was hushed, quiet enough to hear a pin drop. . .The four beasts side eyed each other, as if ready to duel; evidence was undeniably clear, they wanted to use you. . .for something? After keeping their running mouths shut for what felt like decades, Burning Spice finally breaks the silence, drawing his weapon, his patience was already dissolved. . .*

"Alright, that's it! We all want the cookie, and just sitting around isn't gonna help!"

"So, let's settle this. . . once and for all. . !"

"Agreed!"

"*Ugh* Suppose we should get this over with. . !"

*As Silent Salt drew their sword, the battle had began. The four played sides, the three of them trying to barge their way in, and Silent Salt trying to keep them out; and despite how unfair the fight seemed, not only were they evenly matched, but they all were fighting for themselves, for their own selfish goals, all of which surrounded getting to you. . . Speaking of that, you were once more left in the dark, spared from the situation. Not to say you aren't curious about what was going on either, in fact you were completely willing to open the windows to look outside if Silent Salt didn't tell you to keep them closed. Laying on top of the marshmallow bed, you stare up at the ceiling in boredom and something else. You received another to be alone with your thoughts, really rekindle and wonder. . . What the hell was going on?! First you were teleported to this strange place, then you were kidnapped five times, then you basically died and came back to life? Nothing about your situation was normal! Not to mention the cookies you're trapped with, if you can even call them "cookies" what even were they? You didn't know anything about them, what to feel about them, let alone if you could trust them or not. . . Questions were swimming in your head like fish upstream, feelings fighting for control in till. . .*

"*AH HAHAHAHA!~* no matter what, the story always stays the same!~"

*You hear a voice, a squeaky, arrogant, yet oh so voice. . . You look around in surprise, was that who you thought it was?!*

"That's right!~ The hero has arrived!~"

". . .To save his damsel in distress!~"

*CRASH!*

*Destroying one of the windows, bursts in the self-proclaimed trickster himself, Shadow Milk Cookie, the suddenness of the action making you fall off your bed startled and almost near giving you a heart attack. When hitting the ground, he did a quick barrel roll before landing on one knee in a sort of "ta-da!" position, acting like he didn't ruin a perfectly good glass plane, and much to your bewilderment. You quickly get up and stand towards him*

"S-Shadow Milk?! Are you ok?!"

"Awh~ Look at you!~ worrying for lil'ol me!~"

"I'm perfectly fine my little mousey!~ Absolutely splendid!~"

*You knew you should've expected a reaction like that from him of all cookies, but it didn't stop you from going dumbfounded*

"You just jumped in through a closed window!!"

*He then went on this long, overexaggerated, winded speech about how much he missed you, how you two had been separated for far too long, what lengths he had to go through just to get to you, but you were wise enough to know that he was partly spewing out lies. . . Mystic Flour knew he had a plan, and had a plan he did! whilst everyone else was occupied, he'd snuck in through a back window, unbelievable how such a cheap tactic was able to work. . . It wasn't long for Shadow Milk to notice the beautiful dress you were wearing, and lights up with glee, zipping toward you, and scaring you once more*

"And might I add, that is quite a marvelous gown you have on!~ *AH!* It makes you look so much more like a proper damsel!~ who made it?!"

"Well-. . ."

*He cuts you off before another word could come out of your mouth*

"-Oh, no, no, no, wait!- don't tell me, Silent Salt Cookie made this, didn't they?~"

"*AH!* It's such a no brainer!~ They make such amazing things, of course they'd make something this cute!~ I'm a little jealous!~ *hehehe!~*"

"*Whew!~* Okay, I think we had enough excitement for one day, hadn't we?~"

*He abruptly grabs your arm and pulls you close, startling you as blush begins to creep up your cheeks*

"Time to go home!~"

*It was the mention of "home" that threw you into a loop, what did he mean by "go home?!" Shocked, you pulled yourself away from the trickster, causing surprise and slight annoyance on his end*

"H-Home?! What are you talking about?!"

"Oh, you ask such silly questions, I'm taking you with me! Back to my humble abode!~"

Obviously, going back to the guy that had the player turned into two halves, is something that they aren't fully ready to do, thus are given the choice to go with him or not; to which both have different, yet very grim results. . . If they say yes, Shadow Milk Cookie will carry them out of Silent Salt's domain, not before being founded out by the other beasts, causing the player to be caught up within the drama, eventually getting stabbed through the chest from all the excitement. . ! On the other hand, if they say no, Shadow Milk with become more persuasive toward the player, reminding them of their time spent apart. If they deny him enough times, his patience begins to wane as his persona falls apart. Becoming more demanding till he snaps, forcing the player to leave with him; but it was already too late, as the other beasts had shown up, who aren't too happy about his late arrival, and chaos ensues, leading to the player getting decapitated. . !(Woooo-)

~Final~

The player ends up back at the top of the altar in the Silver Forest, completely passed out from the shock. All the beasts, after freaking out over their dead body, head there in a heartbeat, arguing over who'd be the one to take the player home, till Mystic Flour decides enough is enough, ending the argument and declaring the Shadow Milk should be the one to take in the player since he found them first, further saying that arguing wouldn't get them anywhere and wants to start a meeting before anyone else could argue back. . . Fast forward to Shadow Milk's base, the player is getting some well needed rest as the beasts are discussing what to do next, although it isn't entirely apparent that they remember how they got there, having them around could be beneficial to their much bigger goals. After a bit of talking, Shadow Milk conjures up a wonderfully, awful, idea. . . keeping the player as their hostage. . . Think about it! From the outside world, they already have reputations for being cold and cruel monsters, if they found out they had a cookie with them, they'd go nuts! Plus, who'd be more inclined to get involved? None other than the new Guardian Of The Seal, and Ancient Hero herself, White Lily Cookie. . . Long story short, they all agree with the plan, as it will guarantee their escape, and check on the player not long after, who was still passed out

*In your dormant state, you lay unconscious as all five beasts watched you, each of them claimed a corner of the bed. As they watched, Silent Salt noticed a slight twitching in your hand, and instinctively embraced theirs into yours, rubbing their thumb on your wrist. Not everybody took it well, cause Eternal Sugar shooed their hand away just a few seconds later*

"*Ugh* Get your hands away from them, you're ruining their slumber. . !"

*She turns back to you as her mood shifts from annoyance to gentle delight*

"Awh~ They look so precious!~"

*Burning Spice leaned forward on the bed to get a better look at you, he seemed upset*

"How long are they gonna be like this. . ? It's been awhile now. . ."

"Roughly a few hours, but I believe they will be awake by tomorrow. . . Poor thing, must have scared them quite a lot "

". . . I think it'd be wise to not tell the pika about our plan, after all, we did get this far with them"

"Right you are, my dear comrade!~"

"If it were to get out that we were keeping them for our own sake, it'd surely shatter any trust we might have, and we don't want them defying us, now do we?~"

*The other beasts agreed*

"*hehehehe!* So it's settled!~"

*Running a hand up your arm, the trickster looked back at you with his signature smile*

"*Hehehehe!*Oh be sure to get all the rest you need, my little mousey!~"

"Cause you'll be in for quite the performance!~"

And that's pretty much how the story begins, the player is their little doll for the time being, none the wiser about the beasts' plans for hostage type deal with The Guardian Of The Seal

(holy crap we're almost done, guess it's time to talk about some background and bonus info)

~Background~

You are playing as the new resident of the Faerie Kingdom, a half-faerie who grew up in Crispia. There, they are known for two things, having cookie genetics and being kinda an a*s, everything makes them unique compared to other faeries, especially the lack of wings on their back, and their personality isn't exactly a pocket of sunshine either. So throw that in a blender, and you got yourself unnecessary fame that many don't want. The player receives the full "little sibling treatment" with faeries being overbearing and constantly getting doted on. Which, of course, sucks, day by day, no matter where they go, they can't escape it! The only escape they have from it all is their day job, working as the librarian's assistant is when they could finally have some peace and quiet, alongside the librarian, who became the player's good friend

Ok! Bonus Stuff!

With the player's kidnapping and life within the Silver Kingdom, a few bonus relationships the player can have are with Silverbell, Mercury Knight, Pure Vanilla, and of course White Lily. SB and Mercury are like childhood friends/crushes, having met the player before the events of the main game, making the player more acquainted toward them. White Lily and Pure Vanilla on the other hand, take a parental role, acting as the player's protectors much later in the game. Both are relatively more alien to the player, especially White Lily, but the two quickly insert themselves, insisting that they only want to keep the player safe(which makes sense considering their mission is to protect Cookiekind, and the player certainly counts) Out of the two, it's White Lily we end up getting the closest with(a mother + child bond if you will), as Guardian Of The Seal, she was horrified to find out the player was being held hostage by the beasts, and wanted to do anything in her power to save them. She also took a liking to their personality (which's fine I guess???)

It may not look like it, but this game is all about choice. It's about the ideas and importance of choice, how decisions affect your life, how even bigger decisions are often made by selfish people, and (I'm probably gonna get publicly executed for this!-) how a democracy should be handled, because let's be honest, we need a better one. . . We'll see plenty examples of a bad democracy among the beasts, as Shadow Milk, the proclaimed "leader" constantly makes choices for others, in reality only thinking about himself; it's through the player he learns to give the others a say in the matter. Speaking of which, it's the player's choices that will have the most impact as the story continues, like how most games do, the only difference is that the game provides a much wider buffet of choices, making the opportunities endless!

.

.

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If you're reading this then, Congratulations!

You Made It To The End!

Here's A Trophy!🏆(for both me and you cause omfg this took FOREVER! I'm happy with the final result but like- I never thought this would take like 5 weeks to make ;w;)

If I could go back in time, I would've definitely made this shorter. . !

If you any other ideas for this strange fangame, then feel free to let me know!~

Ok, bye!~^^

*decomposes into the soil*

[vulpixisananimal]

Carrion!Sif AU, Chapter 2

ACT 2, The Smell

(You wake up.)

(. . . What.)

(You, you were checking for traps in the hallway and couldn't see, smell, feel anything until the very last second and then-)

"Siffrin!"

(It was Mirabelle. She walked up you you just like last time and just like then just started, taking to you!)

"Good morning! Or, w-" >>> "-but not too long!"

(You stared at Mirabelle as she walked off. The scent of that soap she used even stronger than last time. She, she said the same thing, same exact thing?!? But, but wait you- How- how did-)

(Did you-)

(DID YOU JUST DIE?!?!?!)

(You did!! You must have!! You just walked into that hall and said everything was fine and you died!!! You didn't see anything!! Smell anything!! AND YOU STILL DIED?!?!)

(You're USELESS!!! It's your JOB to find traps and you DIED!!! You didn't even get a glimpse of the King and you just got squished flat!!! STUPID, STUPID STUPID!!!)

(AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)

(Okay you're over it now.)

(You sit up, dizzy. And now absolutly starving. Your stomach growls. Stars, why are you so hungry again??? Ugh, and now you're gonna have to wait untill tonight, again! You grip the grass beneath you, taking a breath, once, twice, and three times. You're ok, Sifrin. You're ok. You're back here, and now you can do better this time.)

[You got the "Memory of Looping!" You'll always remember this.]

(. . . What was that voice?)

(You stand up, looking around. You could smell the birds, the people, everything around you. Come on, Siffrin. You'll be okay.)

[. . . You should come to the Favor Tree when you have a second, Stardust~]

(You shudder, Stardust?)

>>>

". . ."

(A. . . A star?)

(You had gone straight to the favor tree to see just, what just happened. And, there was a star sitting there, a star person.)

". . . My! Struck speachless at the sight of me, aren't you~?" (The star put a hand to their mouth like they were laughing at you.) "You're so cute, Stardust~"

(Stardust?!?) "U-uhm--"

"Aww, Siffrin. Look at you, all lost and confused~"

(?!?!?!?) "How, how do you know my-"

"Why wouldn't I know, you're Sif! Siffrin! No middle name, no last name~" (The star leaned back against the favor tree.) "Now I know you must be quite overwhelmed, with this being your first loop and all~"

"My. . . ." (You shake your head, this was all a lot to take in, and. . .)

"Oh where are my manners! Take a seat, Stardust, there's plent of room~"

(You look between the star and the root of the tree. Who, who was this?!? You couldn't tell, they smelled of, sugar. Strongly of sugar, and nothing, and a bit of something that smelled a bit familiar.)

(. . . . . . You decide to sit down.)

". . . . . ."

". . . . . . . . . So! You're stuck in a time loop!"

>>>

"Phew, Bonbon! That was DE-LI-CIOUS!!"

(Deja Vu.)

(So, you're in a time loop. Loop was, here, and helping you out. But, that was okay! Great, actually! That means that you could be useful! And that makes it okay, doesn't it? You could get used to this, used to dying. Something about it, it felt familiar, and that felt, comforting? Why should it feel comforting?)

(. . .What were you thinking about again?)

(Anyway! You ate up your food even faster than last time. You felt famished! Even more so than before! But you had to pace yourself at least a little. Right? Don't cause a scene.)

(This'll be fine!)

>>>

(It was right there.)

(It was right BLINDING THERE!!!)

(Right in front of your stupid! Blinding face!! A little hidden switch in the side of a pillar! How!! How could you miss it!!! Stupid, stupid stupid stupid!!!!!)

(You breathe in, and out. Fine, you flip the switch.)

(CRACK!)

(THUD!!!)

(. . . . . There's a pause, a large rock fell a few feet back.)

". . . . Let's go, everyone."

"W-wow! Not even phased! Huh!" (Isa says, falling in step as you lead everyone along. They were scared, worried, you could smell it, it's fine, though, nothing bad can happen now.)

>>>

"Why the need for an armory and weapons in the first place?" (Asks Odile)

(It was a small room, a few spears on a rock, a sword on the wall. The others were talking as you looked around. The smell of sugar only got stronger.)

(You weren't paying too much attention to the conversation, once they were done, you moved on. What else was around the room? There was a big steel thing with a stone on it, and a big brick, thing- O-OH, you take a big step back.)

"You're alright, Sif!" (Isabeau says, reassuringly.) "I don't think anyone will be using this forge aaaaany time soon."

"It's not even hot!! Dummy!!" (Bonnie walks over to the forge and kicks it.) ". . . Ow."

"Be nice, Bonnie." (Odile adds, giving you a look of sympathy.) "You can't exactly controll these things."

"Too true! Let's get going, then!" (Isa finishes, you nod, leaving the room. Fast.)

>>>

"Do you guys, smell that?"

(You had to ask. You had to because it was getting unbearably strong! The SUGAR! The sweetness!! It honestly was driving you a little mad and stepping through the halls only made it worse!! You knew, it was LEADING somewhere!)

"Smell. . . What?"

"I don't smell anything."

"Hmmmm, maybe?"

"Is it the sugar?"

(You turn to Bonnie.) "Sugar?"

"Yeah, sugar!" (They sniff the air.) "It's been around since we got in here. Super sugary."

(Huh.) "Guess I'm not crazy then."

"Hehe, I wouldn't say that!"

(You all laugh, and move on. Right, sugar, that was fine. Just a bit of sweetness. You all walk on, through the hall, to the door at the end. The smell got stronger, why here? Was it a food storage room? Well, you were about to find out anyway. You open the door and walk inside.)

(You gag and stumble to a knee, the smell was WAY. WAY TOO STRONG. Your eye was watering, it was unbearable. You felt Isa kneel down to your side.)

"S-sif! Are you alright?!?" (He asks, worried.)

"S-so strong-" (You choke out.)

"C-careful! There's-" (Mira starts, you look up, there was a weird sadness in the room you didn't even see! You could barely see anything, anyway. It noticed you all, and charged.)

"Gems, Siffrin, get up!" (Odile takes a combatitve stance.)

"R-right-" (You stumble to your feet, gripping your dagger, battle time, just, don't, don't think about the smell, don't, get, distracted--)

-----

(Obligaroey @traumaboyexo <3)

[pippin-pippout]

Yeah I have thoughts. So many. This'll probably get long and repetitive.

I'm only on the ep with the beginning of Ace's arrival to Wano. I never realized he came to Wano before joining Whitebeard. I guess he got in a lot of shipwrecks.

I think this furthers my belief that when Ace said he died with no regrets, except for not seeing Luffy achieve his dream, it was a big fat lie. It was a lie meant to make it easier for Luffy to accept his death.

Ace made so many promises that he couldn't keep. It's so in their nature (ace and luffy and probably sabo too) to promise the world to anyone they find suffering. And so often, at least for Luffy because of that protagonist's halo, they are able to keep their promises.

But all 3 of them are so reckless with their lives – they don't fear death, but they also don't respect death, and they don't respect what death means for those they leave behind.

Each survived on luck and determination so many times, until for Ace, that wasn't enough. He left behind people he swore to be there for. Now, I don't think he actually stood there and weighed the consequences of turning around to fight Akainu, or that he connected that taking unnecessary risks could lead to him breaking promises.

But I do think it's fair to say that he never understood that his promises to just be there mattered to anyone. So of course can be reckless with his life and accept death with a smile, because death to him was just the ending of his own silly life. He never believed there'd be a little girl counting on his promise, using the weight of that to fill her stomach when there was no food. He never could have imagined himself being that important to anyone - not even Luffy.

It broke my heart to hear how casually and plainly Luffy told Otama of Ace's death.

"It's true. Ace is dead. It doesn't matter when or where she finds out. He's not coming back."

I know Luffy is the epitome of sunshine and looking forward, but it really felt like he said it in such an unemotional manner because that was the only way he could get the words out. If he'd allowed himself to break it to her slowly, or show an ounce of how much he missed Ace, he'd break down. He also hasn't told them yet that he's Ace's younger brother, maybe because that's also too hard to get out.

I love that Luffy is ultimately able to fulfill Ace's promises on Wano on his brother's behalf. And in a way Sabo is fulfilling Ace's broken promise to Luffy. And that's beautiful and tragic and underscores the importance of their brotherhood and the family they found.

But god is it hard to accept. I'm so used to One Piece showing me characters who do get their dreams fulfilled before death, who do manage to fulfill their own promises before death (or fulfill their promises at the cost of their lives), that a character leaving a trail of broken promises feels so false...

And I'm sorry, but to me "carrying the will of Ace" forward feels like a poor substitute for the character themselves. After all, Ace was his own person with his own dreams outside of either of his brothers. As much as they fight for what they know he cared about, neither can live his dream for him.

---

I'm really interested to see how Ace meets Yamato and also what causes him to leave Wano and promise to come back. Obviously he was not remotely strong enough to fight Kaido at that time. Did he plan to come back once he got stronger too? With Whitebeard's fleet backing him up?

[discordiansamba]

"let's go on a field trip!"

zuko arches a brow, staring at the avatar incredulously. a field trip, he repeats. but all aang does is nod eagerly. just you and me! it'll be great! zuko points out that it wasn't that long ago that his mission in life was trying to capture aang, but the avatar just brushes it off with a laugh.

"yeah, but you're not doing that anymore, are you?" aang asks. "this'll be good for you, i promise!"

zuko glances over at jin, who just shrugs. he heaves a long sigh and realizes he's probably not getting out of this and reluctantly agrees. he makes sure to pack a lot of the medicinal tea that the palace doctors prescribed to him to help deal with his sleepwalking, since he doesn't know how long he's going to be gone. he makes sure to bring his dao, since with his firebending in the state it's in, they're the only thing he has to defend himself.

aang won't tell him where he's going.

he just leans back and glares a hole in the back of aang's head, but the avatar doesn't seem to mind. the whole group seems to view his moments of being surly and unpleasant as 'recovery' and zuko doesn't know how to feel about the fact that's what people seem to think about him. he can't disagree with it, but...

...he doesn't know. he wants to be better, he guesses.

...he also doesn't want to be like lee.

aang brings him to the sun warrior ruins. he glances over at him with an incredulous look, and the avatar just beams and says this'll help with his firebending problem! c'mon, let's go explore! at which point he grabs zuko by the arm and drags him all over the ruins. he'll begrudgingly admit it's not a terrible time, but he still has no idea why he's here.

then aang leads him into a temple.

he glances at the door as they pass. it looks like it works the same way the temple on crescent island did- which would explain why aang chose to take their field trip on the solstice. inside are massive golden statues of the sun warriors, and aang convinces him to give the poses a try with him. they're firebending forms, he says chipperly.

(he stops him from grabbing the golden egg that emerges when they're done. trust me, you don't want to do that.)

when they emerge, they're greeted by actual sun warriors. aang feigns surprise, but it's obvious he knew this would happen. the chief gives him a long look and asks if he's here to take the trial of the masters. aang gives him an encouraging double thumbs up, so zuko reluctantly agrees.

they give him a piece of the eternal flame.

unlike the tiny, weak flames zuko has been producing lately, he manages to keep this one strong and steady as he makes his way up the mountain path they indicate. he has no idea what's going on as he ascends the stairs, but he can't shake the crawling sensation of being watched. he arrives at the top, and the sun warriors blow into horns...

...there are dragons here.

for a long moment, zuko just stares at them. then slowly, he begins to move, performing the firebending form aang had shown him in the temple. he must have done so for a reason, zuko realizes. when he's done, he lets out a long breath and looks up at the dragons-

-the burst of colorful flame they encircle him with is incredible.

oh, he realizes, his firebending isn't weak because he was brainwashed. it's because the way he firebent before is wrong for him now- his time as lee has changed him. he's let go of all the anger and the hate that's been driving him since the agni kai, and hasn't found anything to replace it with.

the dragons disappear back within their caverns.

zuko summons a flame into his hands. it is still small- but it is also strong and steady. above all else, it carries a promise-

-he's not where he needs to be yet. he still doesn't entirely know who he is anymore. but he'll get there.

there's no need to rush.

[jolyneart]

This'll be a long-ish post about my The Locked Tomb themed MTG deck and how I made like 20 versions of it before I decided to build it (and how I'm still working on it).

(I want to do legit art for this card)

If you are part of the Venn diagram of these two interests, or you want to see my slow descent into madness ovear a year of trying to put cardboard together, check the spoilers below.

So, I haven't been playing Magic for too long (a bit over a year). Weirdly I have owned cards since original Ixalan, but I never bothered learning to play until a friend invited me to play commander. I just wanted them for the pretty pictures, I have always admired Magic artists and they have been a huge inspiration on my art career.

Anyways, not too long after I started to play, I got this idea into my head that I should do a Locked Tomb commander deck.

"That'd be fun!" I thought

Well

All of these are over a year old (and are not my only first attempts, but I'll talk about those later).

I had two main issues when starting to build this deck:

1- I have never been interested into deck-building before in a card game

2- I have no fucking idea of what I'm doing

The first commander I chose to lead this deck, that I still think thematically fits within TLT universe, is Ratadrabik of Urborg

This Rat of a man has given me so many headaches, I'm sure that now I'd be able to do make a half-decent deck with him in the lead, hell I do have a black/white aristocrats deck that he could command just fine.

But my issue was that I had no idea how to balance his legends theme and zombie kindred theme at the same time, in the same deck. I was just incapable. And all of my results, budget or not, were jank piles that did very little or exploded into an infinite combo with cards like Boromir, Warden of the Tower or Nazgul. It just didn't feel right and the Locked Tomb theme was barely holding on by a thread with the things I was putting in there. There were barely ANY skeletons in any of these! (this will keep happening)

Anyways, after giving up on Ratadrabik (which btw I think would make for a great Ianthe proxy) I moved on to find some other commander and color combination that'd enable something else that wasn't a pile of legendary creatures.

Queue in Varina, Lich Queen

It's a Zombie Wizard! She cares about zombies, those are kind of early skeletons! She raises the undead herself!

Well, I do think Varina is great, and in other world where I knew how to build decks back then, she might just have been my Harrow commander deck

I don't even think the decks I made for her were that bad at all, just extremely expensive. And also the zombie theme, while much better supported mechanically, I didn't feel really represented the kind of necromantic powers we see in the books at all.

Shoutout to Mikaeus, he'd make for a great Jod if anyone wants to make a deck about our lord and savior the undying emperor.

Ok, now I'm going to take a bit of a detour to talk about what I actually like playing in mtg (not just commander). I predictably really enjoy playing black and graveyard strategies, but also really love putting big idiot beaters into the field with those strategies .I know, groundbreaking. But it is what it is, two of my favourite decks do this in one way or another.

God's perfect deck, my Sauron deck, was my first precon, that has left the lands of preconstruction long ago and is my dearest possession. Is it my most powerful deck? nope. Is it unbeatable? Not really, I almost never win with this deck.

What BIG Sauron does is, in an extremely thematic way, become a problem for everyone at the table, do evil things, and have everyone beat me down for my reanimation crimes.

If you are interested, you can check out that deck here.

Anyways sorry, back to the locked tomb, SO I like the graveyard right? Wouldn't it be nice that there'd be a famous woman necromancers in mtg? What if she leaded the deck?

Well, the most that I can say is that there really can be too much of a good thing. I'm talking about swamps.

Initially I had these two running around in the Ratadrabik deck. I still stand by the idea of having these flip walkers be young Harrow/Gideon and flip them into their "First House" versions. The Gideon/Kiriona and Kytheon/Gideon thing still drives me insane.

I was too sad discarding them, so I grabbed the Lilly card and tried to make it work, I really tried, I put on a lot of effort and care. But it didn't work, it wasn't her, it was me.

I built a pretty generic aristocrat shell, but I think that type of archetype really benefits of having more colors to work with (specially white).

So, with three commanders locked in the tomb (I also tried a Gut rakdos deck but I'm not even going to talk about it), what was next? I spent months on these and still had nothing to show for it. Was I the problem? Was I cursed with bad deck dissease?

No, that cannot be. I'm building other decks while this is going on and those are doing just fine. Lae'zel//Master Chef, Gandalf Big Artifacts. The issue might be that the head of the deck is always caring for just the one thing, there was not much diversity. I kept making Necromancers but had no Cavaliers to back them up.

If there could just be a way to have two little guys up there in the command zone. Wait a minute...

So, this was truly a jank fest. Partner is an extremely strong mechanic in commander, and Tymna is specially strong as a card to have access early. So I decided to justify using these to make the biggest pile of nonsense happen.

Equipment? check. Initiative? check. Skeletons? check. Zombies? check. Graveyard? check. Lifegain? check.

While goldfishing I realized that while the commanders do a great job to sustain the rest of the deck, the ammount of themes and archetypes made this a pile of cards that I can barely call a deck. And worst of all, they enabled two pretty strong commanders, and that didn't feel that'd be satisfactory at all in actual play.

I even prepared proxies for these! Feel free to use them if you want.

Also, I tried the whole partner thing swapping out Tymna for Ikra Shidiqi. Bringing out another whole color didn't help with the theme soup I was working with.

So I wholy abandoned the idea of both partners, and maybe even making this deck.

Maybe my hopes and dreams of having a functional silly lesbians and skeletons deck were doomed (yuri) from the beginning.

Months pass, I built 3 or 4 other decks in the meantime that work, can compete and be fun, sometimes all at the same time if you'd believe it. I had completely lost faith in this deck idea.

All until one day, were I was checking out a pile of cards I had pulled from the recent MH3 set to put them into my binder. And then I see it. There he was, this fucking guy with a shovel(?), looking at me.

I read again his fairly big wall of text, what does this guy do again?

Oh, he does necromancy stuff? attacks? wait wait, he draws POWER from the GRAVEYARD?? in JUND?

He really saved it. Not only I feel this perfectly represents the dynamics of Cavalier is in charge of creating enough thanergy for their necromancer, but ALSO does the necromancer thing, and ALSO loves having like 10 power and beating down face. This was a message, the dream was still alive.

So, I make a list, I order cards, I scrounge cards from my other black decks. And there it is. It's real

The Locked Tomb Griddlehark Commander Deck

But... that's not how my list looks right now. Yeah I know this deck is cursed into being always changing I think. But, the main issue here was what I said before. It had to pull cards from multiple decks to sustain itself. And I learned quickly that I don't like having my baby, my Sauron, being not functional, and that keeping track of what cards are where and swapping them out constantly sucks tremendously.

So, I pulled back most of the cards to their original decks. What was left was a corpse, a beautiful incomplete deck. So I selected cards from my collection, lower powered ones, niche ones, weird ones, and put them in for their more powerful counterparts.

It's function is extremely simple, it fills it's graveyard quickly, ramps, and with Coram on the battlefield, you turn that self-mill into card advantage, the graveyard into a power source and bring back powerful creatures like the Resurrection Beasts (Eldrazi)

There also are skeletons in there, of course.

This deck needed to die many deaths to exist. But isn't that the theme?

I'll make sure to put up the new decklist on my moxfield whenever I get a few upgrades.

[kassandrasdisciple]

~~~ spoilers for mystery incorporated ~~~

Like all my posts this'll be a rambling mess.

I didn't dedicate enough memory to mystery incorporated when I watched it as a child, this is a masterpiece.

The mystery is actually pretty good, it's set up well, there's crumbs everywhere, the repeating theme of "this has happened before" the other mystery groups. Do I understand what happened in the final act? Do I know why they didn't just destroy the keys/pieces/coffin when they had the chance? Did I understand the extradimentional beings? No to all the above, and guess what? I don't care, and that's how you know it's a good mystery, there are dozens of poirot, mrs marple and Columbo stories that I never know what's going on in and I still enjoy them. I wanted to know and I wanted out gang to succeed AND. THEY. DID.

Second point H O L Y S H I T, how many tragic characters can you stuff in a narrative? Some where for jokes, like the conquistador serving classic catholic guilt™ that makes him haunt the literal psychoscape. But we also had characters like Mr. E and angel/Cassie, the later who's fate I didn't realise was real until ... the marcie scene.

Marcie aka hotdog water, was introduced as a one off, villain of the week, with some nerd quirks and then I blinked and she was patroclus to Velmas Achilles, the lead in a Sapphic Romeo and Juliet, my baby. I won't lie, I had to pause and go listen to Two Slow Dancers on my bathroom floor. The gaul of this show to hit me in the face twice, once by gatling gunning my gays and twice by making me realize my DJ queen did infact get blown to pieces and I've been in denial for half a season.

Anyways watch mystery incorporated, it's 2 seasons 26 episodes each and unlike most netflix shows it can't be canceled and your guaranteed a completed story.

In the words of my girlie Marcie when looking at Velma from her bed

"That's my girl"

[rupeenotruby]

Of Courses I Have Horses -Reflection

Ok this is mostly for me but if you have any feedback for the comic I'll leave my anons on for a few days and you can pop it over there!

Anyways proceed with caution, this'll probably be long. Also I'm probably going to be pretty critical of myself here but please don't worry or feel the need to defend me from myself. I actually love critique and if I really do hate what I've made I won't even be able to look at it.

Stats:

Expected Time: Three Weeks (Don't clown on me I have ambitions)

Actual Time Spent: Ten Weeks

Expected Length: 9 Parts (73 Panels)

Actual Length: 9 Parts (72 Panels + one big panel) and one bonus drawing.

Pros/the good:

FINISHED IT!!!!! :D I did it. I did it. I'm the best you know how it is!!! I've always been scared of bigger projects like these because of how intimidating they can get but I did it! I got to the end! And about 83.56% of the panels had an environmental background (not all unique but hey whaddyagonnado).

People liked it!! (unless everybody is lying to me *-* jk jk too many people for that to be true). Sure you shouldn't measure your success on other's opinions but it is nice to know that I'm not alone in my enjoyment of my work.

Updated it pretty regularly! Good to know if I ever want to make a real webtoon.

Horses Researched ✅ I probably have some blind spots having not actually interacted with horses all that much but eh. It is fanfic in the end.

Cons/the bad:

I don't like posting while writing/drawing. Too much pressure even if the pressure was kinda good to motivate me and it was technically imagined anyways.

Colors are ugly. I'm not sure why I chose that color of sky but hmmm.

Backgrounds are present but uninspired and bland. The colors contribute to this but also the fact that I didn't draw the backgrounds before I drew the people most of the time. I also was just referencing images from botw (if you couldn't guess) and this lead them to be flat and like they were not existing where the characters were existing sometimes.

Too wordy in some places. Despite the fact that I chose to do four panel chunks to practice brevity I ended up being too verbose in some situations. One of these was Legend's episode. I felt like people wouldn't get the joke so I over explained it in the dialogue but even then I still don't think people got it got it. This is usually fine but when you over correct and still end up failing it is bad because you end up failing both ends (so to speak). Also the words were not always that good or polished.

Characters were off model frequently. The horses were the worst part as their head shapes would change frequently. This is most likely a result of my lack of experience drawing horses (why I decided to go with a series where I would have to draw a bunch of horses no one will know).

Characters were also ooc (probably) Wild was a little too happy/silly, Four was a little too irrational, Legend was mean mean instead of more accidently mean, and I think the others were fine. They just didn't really get to showcase their personalities all that much.

Lessons for next time:

MAKE A REF SHEET!!! I had to go back and forth between old pages to get the colors and it was such a hassle. Made me not want to color which is bad because I already don't like coloring all that much.

Crank up the threshold on the bucket tool when coloring. Leads to more being colored in and less white bits to fill in later

Write it all out before!! Especially if short like this. Makes it easier.

Put the words before sketching dummy!!! Saves many headaches.

Speaking of which, maybe set the background to be grey so you get less headaches (maybe, unconfirmed if this was the cause of headaches).

Draw (sketch) the background before drawing the characters.

Add clouds to the sky.

Do wrist exercises! Real ones!

Conclusion:

Good experience all around. Many things learned about myself and my creative process. Still not a horse girl but maybe one day.

Anyways this is probably the last you will see of "Of Courses I Have Horses." On to bigger and brighter things!

[coolcattime]

Now I'm starting to see actual teaser trailers for it (and it comes out in like a week), I've started to look at all the trailers for the Until Dawn remaster. And general ramble for a long ass time about my thoughts.

Spoilers below the cut for the game because well, it's a remaster and I'm comparing to the original.

It looks like there is at least one new scene with Beth (Features Trailer shows her outside putting trash out and interacting with a deer), maybe this'll be a new introduction to the Don't Move minigame? But it's definitely new.

Characters now jog rather than walk slightly faster when holding the go faster button (comparsion trailer), this is good though I will miss the unintended comedy of the characters only slightly hustling towards their screaming friends.

Josh and Chris have moved in the Prologue (Comparsion Trailer), as they're no longer passed out by the bar. I think they might be on the sofas in the background now - though I that's just a guess from how that's area is lit up now rather than being dark and I believe inaccessible in the original. Maybe Chris is awake and in on the prank on Hannah now as in the original script of the game? Or maybe the ktichen scene being compared is earlier and linked with the new Beth deer scene?

Again, another new scene with Beth (Comparsion Trailer) with her at a shack being pressumably torched by Flamethrower Man. I don't remember anything like this in the original Prologue, and the shack itself isn't something I recognise either. So possibly the chase after Hannah in the Prologue will have more options.

Gameplay trailer confirms that drunk Josh is on the sofas in the background, carried there by Hannah and Beth (that's what I get for watching these backwards). Given that Beth is wearing her coat and Hannah is wearing a jumper rather than her blouse I'd say this is after the new deer scene before the original's game prologue begins. No sign of Chris though, so maybe he has been put into the prank scene. Obviously they might just move him second but there doesn't seem to be room for another person in the area.

Edit: I've been told in the comment that Chris can be seen on a second sofa in a different trailer so he's definitely still passed out drunk.

I can't tell what this is in the gameplay trailer. It's intercut with Mike shooting a sanatorium door open and I think it's still Mike but I can't tell who the guy is. Maybe a screwcrow jumpstare set up by Josh in the abandoned hotel? Or possibly a model replacement since they do seem to be trying to keep the twist secret in all these trailers.

An article on the Play Station blog confirms that all the totem locations have moved and that there is a new set called "Hunger". And also that there will be an option for either the original "Don't Move" challenge or a "Stay Calm" challenge (pressumably as people playing on PC might not have a controller with a gyro like a play station controller).

The new totems interest me, as well as the placement changes because, and I'm just saying this as someone who is hyperfixated over the Supermassive games, the future predicting collectables are never very good. Like of the thirty totems in the original Until Dawn, I would argue that only six of them really give aid (these are Guidance 2, 3, 4, & 6 and Fortune 2, & 4). While most show only the outcome rather than what leads to it and frankly Guidance 5 can hinder because giving the flare gun to Matt only helps if it doesn't fire. I know it's so you can avoid his possible death, but he fires it if he agreed with Emily about the fire tower, meaning the people most likely to help Emily and need the gun as him later won't have it in the first place.

The trend of the future predicting images showing the result rather than the cause kinda continues throughout all Supermassive games so I'm not sure how excited I am for a new branch though it does at least feel promising that new scenes will be added.

I am curious to see where all the totems are moved to, since pressumably the Death totems will still need to be collected by the same characters.

I doubt it, but I have half a hope that they have replaced some of the death/loss totems with different ones. At the very least I'd like one of the three different lodge fire totems replaced, especially as two of them are Mike's.

I am still hopefully for new scenes that we haven't seen yet. Most of the footage is such related to the first half of the game or just anything that hides the supernatural element of the story and, given how I'm sure it's easier to add scenes to the end rather than the beginning, I wouldn't be suprised in a majority of the new scenes are towards the latter half of the game.

The article that I got the info about above said that they have intentionally restructed the Prologue to both explore the Washingtons as a family and to add context to the prank. I think this is honestly so good because, well, Beth was always barely a character and I never really liked Hannah - I felt bad for her don't get me wrong, but the prank hinged on her wanting to sleep with someone else's boyfriend. It always made me see her as kind of a crappy friend and while she didn't deserve to die, I didn't feel as bad as I was probably meant to for her. Adding additional content to make her and Beth like people I am definitely looking forward to.

[healix17]

Welp if the requests are still open (I know this'll be my third) how about some dratchet where Drift is captured and Ratchet comes to rescue him.

Ask me a thousand times I don't really care, I actually love your creative ideas. XD

Rescue and Redemption

The war was over, but the scars remained. On a recovering Cybertron, the remnants of past battles lingered in the form of abandoned facilities and rogue factions. Drift, once known as the Decepticon Deadlock, now an Autobot, navigated these treacherous lands on a mission to gather medical supplies for his comrades.

The mission was supposed to be straightforward. Drift's skill and agility had always been his assets, but even he could be taken by surprise. Ambushed by a group of rogue Decepticons, Drift found himself bound and imprisoned in a desolate facility. His captors, fueled by old grudges, saw him as a traitor and planned to use him as leverage against the Autobots.

Back at Autobot headquarters, Ratchet received the distressing news. The thought of Drift captured and in danger filled him with a fierce determination. Drift had become more than just a comrade; he had become someone Ratchet deeply cared about. Without hesitation, Ratchet assembled a rescue team, insisting on leading the mission himself.

"Are you sure about this, Ratchet?" asked Bumblebee, concern evident in his voice.

"I’m sure," Ratchet replied firmly. "I’m not leaving him behind."

The team moved swiftly and silently through the ruins, guided by Ratchet’s precise calculations and unwavering resolve. As they neared the facility, the sound of distant gunfire reached their audio receptors. Ratchet's spark clenched at the thought of Drift being in harm's way.

They encountered heavy resistance upon arrival, but Ratchet's strategic mind and the team's combat prowess turned the tide. Ratchet fought with a precision borne of necessity, every action driven by the need to reach Drift.

Inside the facility, Drift lay restrained, his spark still burning with defiance despite his injuries. The sound of battle drew closer, and a spark of hope ignited within him. The door to his cell burst open, revealing Ratchet, battle-worn but determined.

"Drift!" Ratchet rushed to his side, his hands already moving to assess Drift’s injuries. "We’re getting you out of here."

"Ratchet... I knew you'd come," Drift managed a weak smile, his optics brightening at the sight of his rescuer.

With careful hands, Ratchet released Drift from his restraints, his touch gentle and reassuring. "Can you stand?"

Drift nodded, leaning on Ratchet for support as they made their way out. The facility shook with the force of the ongoing battle, but Ratchet's focus remained unwavering. They moved through the chaos, fighting side by side, their bond strengthening with each passing moment.

As they finally broke free from the facility, the rogue Decepticons were defeated, scattered remnants of a lost cause. Ratchet and Drift made their way back to Autobot headquarters, the journey filled with a newfound sense of camaraderie and unspoken emotions.

In the quiet of the medbay, Ratchet tended to Drift’s wounds, his hands gentle but firm. "You’re going to be alright," he murmured, his voice soft with concern.

"Thanks to you," Drift replied, his optics meeting Ratchet's. "I owe you my life, Ratchet."

"You owe me nothing," Ratchet said, his voice earnest. "I couldn’t bear the thought of losing you, Drift. You mean too much to me."

Drift’s optics softened, his hand reaching out to grasp Ratchet’s. "And you mean the world to me. I thought... I thought I’d never see you again."

Ratchet squeezed Drift’s hand, a rare smile gracing his features. "You’re not getting rid of me that easily."

Their confession hung in the air, a promise of something deeper. As they sat there, hand in hand, the weight of their experiences seemed to lift, replaced by the warmth of their connection.

"Stay with me," Drift whispered, his voice filled with vulnerability.

"Always," Ratchet replied, his spark swelling with a love he could no longer deny.

In the aftermath of their ordeal, Ratchet and Drift found solace in each other, their bond growing stronger with each passing day. Together, they faced the challenges of rebuilding their world, knowing that as long as they had each other, they could overcome anything.

---

I hope you enjoy it! Let me know if you’d like any changes or additions. 🎀

[macaroon-sapling]

do you uave any funtime freddy hcs,,,,,,

Yes I do!! I love Funtime Freddy he is so silly. This'll have some Bon-Bon stuff too :)

Headcanons Request - Funtime Freddy & Bon-Bon ✷

Here are just a few thoughts on Funtime Freddy and his best friend, and hand puppet, Bon-Bon!

☆☆☆

❋ Funtime Freddy was created alongside Funtime Chica and Funtime Foxy for Circus Baby's Entertainment and Rental. Originally, there was supposed to be a Funtime Bonnie as well, but by the time all the other funtime animatronics were finished, a certain Mr. Afton ran out of his already limited materials and was forced to create a Bonnie hand puppet instead (much to the sheer disappointment of the Bonnie-obsessed roboticist).

❋ When Funtime Freddy's right hand was removed and replaced by the adaptor for Bon-Bon, he was very annoyed and pouted about it a lot (understandably). He complained and whined to the other funtimes, who weren't much help. Even Circus Baby just told him to get over it, that it was just a new change out of his control. All was not lost of course, and very soon after, Freddy met Bon-Bon! His programming was lightly adjusted to accommodate his new friend, and Freddy's sour attitude quickly changed. Although he probably would've ended up liking Bon-Bon anyway, changes in his AI made sure they were the best of friends no matter what. Freddys and Bonnies just go together, after all!

❋ Freddy and Bon-Bon don't spend a lot of time with the other funtimes, who are more social with each other. These two prefer to be off by themselves, with Freddy often walking around in circular paths in the areas where there are messes of wires hanging from the ceiling in the Sister Location. They love to talk to each other about nothing in particular for hours on end as Freddy walks around. They never get tired of hearing each other, Freddy loves to hear Bon-Bon's squeaky and girly voice just as much as Bon-Bon loves to hear Freddy's soprano and German-accented voice. The other funtimes think they're kinda weird for isolating themselves (they're right), but these two really don't care what they think. They especially don't care when their loud laughing and giggling gets obnoxious and annoys the other funtimes.

❋ Although his personality is mostly very silly, bubbly, and even a bit clueless, Freddy can be very sadistic. He knows what he was built for. He actually enjoys the thrill of capturing children and bringing them to Mr. Afton. That doesn't mean he likes Mr. Afton though, Freddy finds him to be pretty intimidating and mean. He tries to stay out of his way unless he is needed for something.

❋ Freddy and Bon-Bon often "stay awake" for a while at close down after the other animatronics in the Sister Location have powered down for the night. This is because they sometimes like to keep talking, and Bon-Bon convinces Freddy to wait just a few more hours before powering down so their conversations can last longer without being disturbed. This is great and all, but it also leads to them being alone in the silent dark of the metal coated cave they call home for hours. There are mice and other creepy crawlies (including night guards) that make sudden loud noises that frighten Freddy, who hates sudden sounds and movements. Bon-Bon hates to see Freddy upset, and he uses his little paws to pet Freddy's face and talks to him comfortingly to distract him from the unpleasant noises. Bon-Bon will do that until he calms down and Freddy reassures him that he's fine now. It always works.

❋ When they're not being rented out for treacherous children's parties or finally talking to the other funtimes, Freddy and Bon-Bon like to play little games with each other. Their favourites are eye-spy (this one gets old fast since their area never really changes), 20 questions, and peek-a-boo. Bon-Bon often wins these games more than Freddy, and he gets easily frustrated. So then Bon-Bon starts letting him win, which Freddy is completely oblivious to (don't tell him!). They also like to sing together, doing mini performances of their favourite stage songs. And of course they're huge fans of knock-knock jokes. For being a sadistic robot bear and his hand puppet, they have fun.

[wildwinterlunas]

So, I don't exactly know if you've discussed this, but I think it's clear about what this current season is going to lead up to, and why I think it's so important to be adamant and weary about Null Sector's plans.

The evidence is there, and the claim?

Null Sector is trying to start another Omnic Crisis.

However, this one is less 'a glitch in the system'

And more, 'hitting the factory reset button and installing a virus intentionally right after.'

Why?

WELL BUCKLE UP YOUR BAMF BELT KIDDOS CAUSE THIS IS A TRIP AND A HALF.

As we know from story missions, Omnics are being subjugated and indoctrinated across the globe, all at once, in almost every part of the world by Null Sector and those helmets that quite literally place them under a catatonic state and wipe the Omnic's memories.

Torbjörn's analysis on the helmet is very clear when he brings up a very important piece of information:

"I don't know...this device is a nasty piece of work. I think I can get it off, but the bigger problem is, I'm not reading anything in the Omnic's memory banks."

"He's still alive, but it's like the essence of who he is,...is gone."

Now, when we say essence, I'm pretty sure we're saying the Iris, or Aurora's essence that was implemented during the awakening. Now I get what you're thinking. 'Ok Anon #324, but if the Iris gets removed, then why is Ramattra talking about Iris? During the Toronto mission?'

And to you- I say- oh ho ho, my dear, that's exactly what we should be fearing. Let it tie into the fact that there's also one of these Voicelines from Ram when talking about his favorite animal:

"Ants. They build marvelous structures and cooperate when threatened. I find them... Inspirational."

Toronto mission, hell, even the humans are terrified. Everyone is swarming in groups. It's not just gameplay either, when Sojourn is directing the groups of scared Omnics onto the ferry boat, it only proves Ram's point more. People are scared, people are grouping together to fight back, hide, run, and that's exactly what NS wants.

Not only is Null Sector wiping the Iris and awakening out of the Omnics altogether, they're creating a brand new version of the 'Iris'...let's call it 'Pink Eye' cause from what I've seen it's highly contagious. Not only from wiping memories, but also using the memories of strong fighters as well. Human's memories. (*Cough Cough* Ana.)

Have you heard Ram talking during the Toronto mission? He specifically states:

"Together, our one minded purpose. We will make this world, our paradise."

"We welcome you into the Iris."

----------

You let me know what you think about this. I wanna hear some raw thoughts. Big brain mode, no idea is a bad idea. I'm hungry for knowledge.

All I know is that, a couple of things could happen.

If those helmets are taken off, someone is going to have to sacrifice their memories either to bring back the original Aurora awakening and reinstall essence to the Omnics. Wonder who.

If NS ends up indoctrinating a major part of the Omnic population, many will die when and if those helmets do something else. If they can send out a location signal, who knows what else they'll do.

If sentience is reestablished into Omnics and possibly other software coding, this'll be one hell of a trip for all those Null Sector bots.

Man you had a brain blast and I. AM. LOVING IT!

Honestly I love your theory and I don't think there is much to add! It also is a good way to bring in the Junkers cause apparently he found the secret to Omnic life in the Australian omnium-

That could be a way to bring all the omnics back, the Australian Omnium was the place where Aroura was built after all. They could end up brining a second awakening, some residual of Aroura left in the Omnium. It could also lead to the sentience of the Null Sector drones, specifically the bots that are based off of actual people.

Like the C-455 Sharpshooter, P-900 Warhead, S-900 Sentry, A-7000 Wargod and K-2000 Blademaster. If they all have the same glitch that A-7000 has them that is one hell of an identity crisis they're going to have.

--------------------------

All that aside, I want to present my own theory. A counter theory if you will.

And that is Ramattra doesn't know that those helmets are erasing Omnics, he just thinks they are in a catatonic state. There is no indication that Ramattra knows what the subjection helmets are actully doing to Omnics.

If you look back at Ramattra's short story there is no implication of Ramattra wanting to create a new Omnic society through hitting a reset button;

There is an indication of imprisonment, of taking away other Omnics choices in order to make them listen, but that is very different from hitting a reset button. Essentially killing the soul of Omnics. It's something I don't see Ramattra doing knowingly. However, there is a group of people who would not only do this, but has tried to do this before.

Talon.

Something I remember from the Story Missions is Torbjourn saying that the helmets put an Omnics mind in a loop. It's something I didn't think much about. Until I read "The Hero of Numbani".

In that book Sombra hack and installs a virus several Omnics around Numbani. A virus that locks Omnics in a constant loop, and gradually corrupts the Omnics memories.

Sound familiar? There is also the fact that a part of Doomfist's beliefs that are presented in that novel are anti-omnic.

Not only that but I always found it strange that Dommfist, someone who wants conflict, would help someone who has the motivation of "Peace at any cost". Ramattra goal has and still is, for freedom and peace. Something that if he were to gain, would go against Doomfist's want for conflict.

Unless Doomfist is just using Ramattra and Null Sector as a tool to create conflict, adding either an updated version of Sombra's virus (or what he thinks is an updated version), to remove Omnics souls and create a true Second Omnic Crisis.

Not only that but that could also lead into an explanation on what "The Conspiracy" is, maybe it's another God AI who wants to do what Anubis did but has learned from the mistakes of the first Crisis and is trying to make it so they are guaranteed to win.

--------------------------

Either way I am excited for both of these theories, with the first one it's going to be interesting to just explore that aspect of Null Sector, if they get Omnics back are they going to still have their memories, their souls? Are they going to resort back to their basic programming, are they going to go back to being under Anubis's control?

In the case of the second theory, how will Ramattra react if he truly doesn't know what the helmets are doing? Will he stop the invasion? Will he double down? Will he go after Talon?

It's all so interesting!

[boygiwrites]

Harley D. Dixon 15

An amazing edit inspired by this story! (Cred to Cora_Line99) Harley D. Dixon's Pinterest Board! Harley D. Dixon's Playlist!

📖Chapter List.

Author's Note. As usual, please enjoy reading, everyone :) <3

Title might give it away, but we've all been waiting for this chapter winky wink

"How long's this girl been lost, exactly?"

"This'll be day five, now."

This'll be day three of my Dad bein' unconscious, I muse to myself solemnly, sitting nearby. It's the next morning, now, and with Dad's treatment more promising and Glenn taking iron supplements to help replace all the nutrients he lost from the blood he gave, people have decided that it's time to resume the search for Sophia. It's not gonna be an easy task, no matter how you spin it. By now, she could be anywhere. If I had five days to walk anywhere in the world, I could be halfway across the country already.

As I watch a brown butterfly flitter elegantly along the edge of the truck bed, lost in thought, Rick smooths a map out across the hood.

"Country survey map." He announces. "It shows terrains and elevations for fifty miles. We'll grid the whole area; search in teams."

"Finally get this thing organized." Dale hums, nodding.

"So far, we've covered this lower region, here, all the way up to this part of the river." Rick drags a finger this way and that over the page. "This is 'round about where we found Harley, down by this slope. Carol said Harley told her she followed this whole bit here and found Sophia's doll somewhere close by. Maybe around this part, here. Between everything that's been goin' on, we haven't gotten a chance to check it out until now, but I'm thinking we start today. Should take about a couple hours to cover, I reckon, with two people."

"And who are you suggesting goes with you?"

"I was thinkin' Glenn, but he needs rest. How 'boutchu, Shane?"

Shane, who's been mostly staring at the grass this whole conversation, looks up.

"Nah." He shakes his head. "My ankle's still pretty busted, man. Best if I hang back on this one."

"Okay, sure."

"Looks like it's just you, then, Rick." Herschel says.

The butterfly chooses this moment to fly away, leading my gaze up, and then onto Shane. His ankle's fit as a damn fiddle. I saw him doin' push ups this morning, but I don't say nothin'. He's been hovering around me since yesterday afternoon like a little insect that I just can't shake, staring at me, pokin' around. Something about Rick's return with the supplies seems to have affected him in a way I can't place.

Few days ago, I would've felt so safe having Shane this close to me, but now I know that's like a bunny feelin' safe around a coyote.

"Actually," Rick butts in, "Harley?"

I snap out of it, suddenly, meeting his eyes.

"Yeah?"

"You wanna come with me?"

"Huh?"

I didn't expect him to ask me that, of all things.

"I could use your help, y'know." He adds. "You'd recognise more of those woods than any of us will."

"That's a good idea." Dale agrees aloud, mainly just for the sake of convincing me. "Doctor, you think she's good to do some exploring?"

"As long as she doesn't put too much strain on those stitches," Herschel nods, "I don't see why not."

"Perfect. What do you say?"

Wow. They really wanna get me outta here today. I guess a few hours away from the house won't be so bad. I'm sick'a Shane breathin' down my neck, anyways.

"Okay," I eventually decide, "I'll go."

Shane suddenly looks like he's regretting his decision to stay here.

"Attagirl. You don't need t'be cooped up in that room, worrying all day." Rick smiles. "Your Dad might even be awake, time we get back. You wanna go getcher hat?"

Dale nods. "Hot out."

"Okay. I think I left it by the well when I was playin' this morning."

"Go take a look, then."

Herschel and Dale help me hop off the truck.

"We'll leave in five minutes, okay, Harley?"

"Okay!"

I make it across the dry field, where Carl is peering down into the pit of the water well.

"Hey, Carl," I say, approaching. "You seen my hat 'round here?"

"Harley! C'mere!"

"What is it?"

"Down here. Look." He leans over the cobbled wall, and I follow his pointing finger into the stinky, murky depths below. "You see it?"

I don't, at first, but then I get a whole big whiff of rotting meat and dead insect-mush, and I make out somethin' moving around down there in the dark, which makes me squeak a little in disgust. Might be an ogre down there. Ogres are gross. I saw in a movie that they pick their noses.

"Hell's that?" I ask, scrunching my nose. "Stinks."

"A walker, I think."

"A walker?!"

There it is. I see it, now. Those shiny things are slippery limbs, and those lumpy ones are big, gross pustules.

I cringe loudly. "Eugh!"

"I know, right?" Carl exclaims, somewhat excitedly. "I think it fell in somehow."

"Well, we best not mess with it."

He straightens, only now registering why I'm over here. "Wait, where are you going if you need your hat? You wanna play tag again?"

"No. I can't. Your Dad's takin' me out to look for Sophia."

He looks confused.

"What? Not Shane?"

I make a face. "No. He's stayin'."

"Aw, man. Why didn't Dad ask me?"

"I'on know."

"Well, can I come, too?"

"No, Carl."

We both spin around to face Rick, who holds up my flimsy green bucket hat in the air as he approaches.

"It's just me and Harley today. Sorry."

When he's close enough, he fixes the hat onto my head.

"You found it?"

He nods.

Carl whines. "Why can't I come, too, Dad?"

He helps me drag the little bauble of the jaw-string all the way up under my chin, since it's kinda tough to do with little hands.

"Harley's goin' through a bit of a tough time right now, Carl. She could use some time away from the house. You're good right here."

Carl pouts.

"Besides," Rick shrugs, "Who's gonna protect this place while we're away?"

He rolls his eyes. "Be serious."

"I am serious."

"No, you're not. Dale's the one who keeps watch. Not me."

"Well, how 'bout you go ask him if you can join him today, huh?"

His eyes widen. "Really?"

"Yeah. I'm sure he'd appreciate that."

As Rick stands up, Carl considers the offer.

"Yeah, okay. I'll do it." He sticks up a finger. "But only if I get a gun."

"Woah. No, no, no. One step at a time, okay?" He laughs, nodding me back toward the gate. "Come on, Harley. We're goin', now."

Carl stomps his foot.

"But, Dad!"

"No. Go ask your mother!"

I can't help but snicker. Poor Carl.

"I can still be useful, you know. It's never stopped me before."

When we make it back to the main gate, where a few of our group are waiting to send us off, we walk into a small argument between Herschel and Shane. We stay out of it for the most part as Andrea hands Rick a backpack filled with useful supplies and one of our rifles.

"You push your ankle now," Herschel warns, "You'll be laid up in bed for a month, no good to anybody. I thought I made that clear."

"You did." Shane nods, playing along to get what he wants, "But I just feel like they could use an extra pair of eyes out there, that's all."

Rick raises a brow. "Thought you said you would hang back."

"Well, compared to what Harley's got, this is nothin'. Just a... a damn twist." He laughs it off. "Should be fine."

"I'm not comfortable with that." Rick firmly states, going back to loading the gun.

Shane just stares at him, annoyed with this conclusion.

"How about you take the car?" Herschel suggests. "It's better than walking. You can head back to the interstate; search for Sophia that way."

He sighs. "Yep. Yeah, okay. That's fine."

"Alright, then. And remember, no guns on my property."

Rick nods. "Loud and clear. We're guests here. We understand."

"Cute hat." Maggie grins, pinching the brim.

I giggle. "Thanks."

"Okay. We're off." Rick slings the bag over his shoulder. "If we're not back by dark, start worrying."

"Sure thing." Andrea smacks his shoulder. "Be safe."

Lori gives his cheek a kiss.

"Look after her, and be careful."

He smiles, nodding as Maggie opens the gate for us. "I will."

Even when we make it all the way to the treeline, I can still tell that Shane is pissed.

"Step over this rock, here. You got it?"

"Yeah."

"There we go. Nothin' stops you, does it?"

"Nope."

"Thought so."

Hiking with Rick ain't all that bad. We make our way into the woods, trailing the creek together for about an hour, before I start to recognise some of the oddly shaped tree trunks, mushroom clusters, and peculiar boulders out here. It reminds me a little of hiking with my Dad, especially when Rick stops to make me drink some water every once in a while, or tells me to watch out for a hole or snag in the ground. I never thought Rick could be like this, but he is a Dad, after all. He's got Carl. Everything I've found Shane's tried to do with me, Rick does it a hundred times more naturally.

He doesn't even make me uncomfortable when he does it, neither. It's almost like this is what it's meant to feel like, all this time.

"Good to be away from the farm for a bit, ain't it?" He muses, avoiding saying, away from Shane.

Up ahead, I notice a log caught in the stream.

"Hey, Rick."

"Yeah, Harley?"

"I saw this." Some frogs hop into the water when we reach it. "Yeah. This is where I found Matilda. She was in the water, right here."

He glances at me.

"Who?"

"Matilda." I repeat. "Sophia's doll."

"Oh. Right. Yeah. I knew that was her name."

"Did ya, really?"

"Not a clue. Let's look around a bit, huh?"

We spend some time combing the dirt and mud near the creek for tracks, but most of the imprints we uncover either belong to woodland animals, thirsty birds, or me, from when I was lost. We can tell 'cause when I step on 'em, the size and patterns are a perfect match to my boots. Just by pure luck, we eventually find some different, slightly bigger markings that could belong to Sophia, hiding under leaves.

We follow them into the trees.

I feel bad for not doin' this the day I came across the doll. If I did, we might've found her by now.

As we walk, I think more about Shane, and how Carl got made to stay behind today, even though he's older, and he ain't even hurt.

"How come you didn't bring Carl with us?"

Rick looks back at me.

"I just thought you could use some time away from everybody; get your mind off everythin' for a while, that's all."

"But you could'a done that without takin' me out here. Maggie did. We went peach pickin' in the orchard yesterday."

"I know." Rick sighs, reluctant to elaborate.

"But?"

"Well... One difference between the orchard and these woods is that there ain't no way for Shane to bug you out here like he can back there."

I almost trip over a pebble, but I save myself just in time.

"Soon as he brought up that ankle of his, I thought it would be a good opportunity." He raises a brow. "You know, don't think I haven't noticed all'a this. Not just the recent staring and the... the whatever-else he's been doin', but something's been goin' on there for quite some time now, I think. Maybe even before the CDC. I don't know. Whatever it is, I wanted you away from it for a few hours."

I always knew Rick was sorta smart, but I guess he's been paying more attention than I thought.

I don't say nothin', so he prompts, "Am I right?"

Yes, he's right. I wish he wasn't, but I can't change things like that.

"Yeah." I awkwardly shrug. "I guess."

"Care to clue me in?"

"Not really."

"Your Dad said the same thing when I brought it up with him. What? Is it some deep, dark, Dixon secret I'm not allowed in on?"

I giggle a little. "No. Not that."

"Then, what is it?"

"I don't know. A different type of secret."

"And what type is that?"

"A..." I put some thought into it. "It's a big secret."

He glances at me again.

If he's having a hard time navigating this, or he's feeling uncomfortable, then he's not letting on at all. In fact, I think he planned this.

"A big secret, hm?" He muses casually. "What makes it so big?"

"Because if I tell you even a little, tiny bit of it, then you'll need to know the whole thing, and I'm not allowed to tell you that."

"No? How about you try?"

"What? Tell you a little, tiny bit?"

"Just a little, tiny bit."

Something tells me no matter what I say, Rick's hanging on my every word and he's gonna remember 'em. I guess this is it, then — The moment I finally tell someone. His back is turned to me, walking just a couple feet ahead, which makes it much easier to treat this like it's nothin'. Wonder if he's doin' it on purpose. I never imagined it would be him I'd talk to about this, but here I am, anyway.

Okay. Just a little, tiny bit. Here I go.

"I think Shane did something really, really, bad."

I wish I could see Rick's face.

Unconfident, I stammer, "There you go. That's a little, tiny bit."

I think Shane tried to murder my Dad. I think he shot him. He shot him for beating on me, but that's another little, tiny bit for another day.

"Okay." Rick says, like he's digesting everything he's thinking; everything he's assuming, concluding, planning. He nods. "Okay."

Shane did something really, really bad, and so did my Dad, and so did I.

"Can I ask you one more question, though, Harley?"

"Yeah?"

"What would happen if you told me the whole secret?"

Oh, that's easy.

"Something even worse would happen."

We make it to a church.

An old, knobbly tree leans over the side of it.

"This the one?"

"Sure is."

When I told 'em about the faint ringing of church bells I heard that day, they explained that there really was a church out here, and that they even stopped at it for a while that afternoon, thinking one of us girls must've been causing the noise, but we weren't. The sound is on a timer.

The door creeks sorely as we step inside, immediately struck by a wall of pure dust and the smell of mothballs.

"Pleh." I mutter.

With a quick look around the barren room, it's obvious that Sophia isn't here.

Never one to be discouraged easily, Rick sets the bag down on one of the wooden benches, and gestures for me to take a seat.

"Trail ends here, I suppose. Maybe we can pick it up again later." He sighs, passing me a cloth filled with pear slices. "You gettin' tired, yet?"

"Not so much. Sittin' on this bench-thing is helpin', though."

He chuckles, "You mean a pew?" 

"Pew?" I exclaim. "Pew, as in, like, a gun? Goin' pew-pew?"

"Exactly like that."

"Weird. Why not just call 'em benches?"

"'Cause churches like to be fancy."

"Well, I ain't fancy."

"Nobody is, anymore. Except maybe Herschel."

He settles down beside me on the pew, and we take a short lunch break together. I unwrap the fruit and begin eating the slender pieces of fresh pear, which are kinda warm from sitting in the backpack all morning — Ew — while Rick snacks on his slightly lesser portion. I look around the church. It's much smaller than the one from our hometown. Ours had a classroom and a foyer and everything, but this one's more like a really big, dirty bedroom.

"Did you ever go to church?" I ask Rick, for no reason other than I want to. "Back when you could?"

"Sometimes," He answers, "But not always."

"We did. They used to give out free stuff. Every time we went, Dad was sure they was gonna tell us we had to leave, but it never happened."

"Did you enjoy going?"

"No... The other kids were always lookin' at us funny."

He smiles sadly. Then he says, "Carl didn't like going, either. He hated having to dress up."

"Did he ever pray?"

"Not really, no. I don't think he believes in all of that."

I don't know what someone like Carl would need to pray for. I bet he had a whole heap of toys, and all the friends he could ever want.

Rick catches me staring at the statue of Jesus at the head of the room, a dull hunk of wood more than anything, lent a pretty, fractured spotlight by the stained window behind it. Carol told me she prayed here, for me and Sophia to be found. She said she convinced my Dad to pray, as well.

"Do you think he's lookin' after everybody?" I ask. "That's what they say, ain't it? Up in heaven?"

"I like to think so. It's a nice thought."

Sophia might be there already. That's a not-so-nice thought.

"Morales, I reckon he's in heaven, 'cause he lent me his toothpaste tube one time."

Rick chuckles. "Yeah. He was a good man."

"And our dog, Tank. He's in heaven, too. I know so, 'cause the vet sent us a letter sayin' he was, after he died."

"Did they?"

"Yep. I don't get how they found out, but that's where he is."

"Must be. All pets go to heaven, you know that?"

"Not all people, though."

"No. No, not all people."

My Uncle Merle's gotta be in Hell, if he's anywhere. I love him, but just 'cause you love someone, it don't make 'em a saint. Uncle Merle used to kick Tank, sometimes. He enjoyed tricking people for money, and he was in jail a lotta the time. I remember one time he was there for somethin' so bad my Dad had to sell his guitar and the TV so he could pay to let him out. I was real mad when he got home.

You ain't happy to see your old Uncle Merle, baby?

No. I ain't got no cartoons no more 'cause of you.

Aw. Sappy little thing, ain't ya? Always told you, you're too soft on her, Darylina.

Rick can tell what I'm thinkin', 'cause it weren't no secret back then that my Uncle wasn't anybody's favorite person in camp.

"I told you before," He takes a chance at saying, "But I'll say it again. I'm very sorry for what happened to your Uncle."

A long time ago, I would've gotten angry at that, but there's not much of that left in me, anymore.

"It's okay." I utter, pleased with how good it feels to say; with how two words can take two tonnes off both my shoulders.

He smiles fondly. "You're not gonna wish death on me, this time?"

"This is a church." I scoff. "I can't do that."

"I won't push my luck, then."

"I'll take some of your pear, though."

"Okay, there. Now you're pushin' your luck."

"Not even half a slice?"

"Fat chance, Dixon."

When we've packed up and are just about to head back out into the sun, I take a last look at the statue.

"You got somethin' you wanna say to him?" Rick suggests.

"Yeah." I decide, and then I shout loudly, "You best wake my Daddy up soon, you sum' bitch!"

A rat scuttles away under the floorboards at my sheer volume.

"Okay." Rick ushers me out the door, trying not to snicker. "Come on, now."

"I got shot in the stomach, too, once. Did you know that?"

I glance at Rick as we step over a rock, sceptical. No, I didn't know that.

"Did ya? When?"

"About a week before I turned up at the quarry." He tells me. "It was a work accident. Put me in a coma for quite a while."

I was too busy hating everybody — hating Rick, especially — to ever really ask about what happened before that day, but there's my answer.

"Don't need to ask if you survived, then, I guess."

"I guess not." He smiles. "No, I'm still kickin'."

"You think that'll happen with my Dad?"

"I'm sure of it."

For once, I want my Dad to be a little like Rick, the man I used to want dead.

When we break through the treeline some hours later, we see Jacqui at the top of the hill, waving her arms around.

"What's she shoutin'?"

"I don't know."

Rick starts jogging forward on instinct, pulling me closer with one hand and grabbing his revolver with the other.

"What?" He shouts back, shaking his head. "What is it? What's goin' on?"

She calls out once more, and this time, her words are clear.

"Harley! Get over here! Your Dad woke up!"

Rick stops running all at once.

We look at each other, astonished, until I start to let the realization sink in, and my eyes well up.

"Go on, then." He nods, excited for me. "Go, go, go. Get up there."

I turn, running all the way to Jacqui.

"When?" I ask. "When?"

She grabs my hand. "About twenty minutes ago."

"Is he okay?!"

We hurry toward the house together, setting off small droves of orange and brown butterflies that were resting in the grass.

"He's okay." She grins. "Threatened to burn the whole farm down if I didn't bring you to him right away, though! C'mon!"

"Dad!!"

I race up the porch steps, squealing.

"Daddy!!"

The door to the Greene house almost falls off its hinges when I push past it. It smacks into the wall with a loud, loud bang, and the next door that stands in my way receives the same treatment. If I burst holes into the plaster, I'll just have to apologise to the Greenes later. As soon as I see my Dad — Awake and breathing, and even sitting up a little in the bed — I throw myself onto him with the force of a thousand lifetimes. He tries to say my name, but grunts when he catches me. He recovers from the pain almost immediately, wrapping me up in the biggest darn hug he's ever given me. All them times I ever waited for him to come pick me up from school, or I thought he didn't turn up for one of my tournaments — That's nothin' compared to this moment. I thought he was dead. Dead and gone, forever, but he's not. Glenn, Rick, and Andrea saved him.

They got me my Dad back.

I sob like I've never sobbed before, overcome with relief that consumes me like a tidal wave, hiccing, moaning, coughing into his shoulder.

I can't believe it.

"He's awake?" I hear Rick asking in the foyer, panting slightly from the walk up the hill. "He's alright?"

"He's going to be sore," Herschel answers, "But yes, he's alive."

"He woke up?" Shane asks, sounding almost offended.

"Yes. Seems those supplies really helped."

My Dad buries his face into my neck, shushing me gently as he soothes my back.

"Dad." I bawl, like he's about to leave me again at any moment, and I have to will him back into my arms. "Daddy-y-y-y."

"Shh, sh, sh, baby." His voice is hoarse in my ear, but it's the best sound I ever heard. "Daddy's here, baby. I'm okay. I'm okay."

I just keep wailing it over and over again until he's crying, too.

"Daddy's here, baby." He shudders, then, mutters, fuck, in embarrassment. "I— I'm here, baby. I'm here. Lemme get a look atchu, huh?"

He pulls back with a kiss to my cheek, steadying me with both his hands.

"You hurtin' bad, still?" He asks. "Your stitches?"

"I thought you was dead, Dad."

His chin crumples ever so slightly as he looks at me, and then wordlessly, he embraces me again. I'm cocooned tightly in both his arms, my ear pressed up against the faint buh-boom buh-boom of his heart. He lays back into the pillows, taking me with him, shushing me some more. I should be a little more embarrassed about how hard I'm crying, but he don't mention it.

If there was ever a time I'm allowed to cry, it's now.

The IV tube gets tangled up a bit, and I think I'm hurting him, but it just makes him chuckle between tears.

"Careful, chicken." He sniffs. "You're gonna— Gonna mess me up, here, in a second."

Herschel comes in to fix it up a bit.

"I'on know what the fuck this is. Sorry." Dad mutters as he tries to help him, clumsily de-tangling all the equipment. "Here. I'on know."

"Gave your little one quite the scare." Herschel smiles over the sound of my ear-piercing cries. "Gave us all quite a scare, I think."

"You're Herschel, right?"

"Yes. Herschel Greene. This is my farm you're sat up in. Did Glenn tell you everything?"

He nods. "Think I owe you my life, if I heard right."

"Well, it wasn't your ears that got damaged in the accident, young man."

"Da-a-a-ad!"

He turns his attention back onto me at an especially pained sob.

"Shhhh. It's okay." He jokes, "I'm right here, girl."

That makes Herschel chuckle. "I'll give you two a moment, then."

Dad lets me cry as much as I want in the privacy of this little room. He smooths down my hair, tucks it behind my ears, plays with it, kisses my scalp, all the while murmuring sh, sh, sh, like I'm a newborn baby needing coddled. I let him rock me side to side. I let him hum little tunes to me quietly, and smack firm but soothing pats through the back of my shorts. After what feels like forever, I calm down, reduced to whimpers.

"You know, I thought I told you not to go nowhere." He tries making me laugh, cradling my face as I look up at him. "Remember?"

"Shut up." I complain, struggling to breathe properly. "You al-al-almost died."

"I know, baby. I'm sorry."

"Every morning, I was so scared you wouldn't be breathin', no more. I had to check."

"Everybody take good care'a ya?" He asks. "Nobody needs a whooping?"

"Maybe T-Dog." I sniff, playing with his chain necklace. "He ate all the pretzels."

"Did he, now?"

"Yeah."

"When I'm all better, I'll sort him out for ya, then."

"Uh-huh." I mumble. "You better."

I can only hold back on asking the question I've been wanting to ask him since the moment I heard that gunshot for so long.

"Daddy, what happened out there?"

He pauses for a moment. I expect him to rat Shane out without a moment's hesitation; to get angry, to want justice. But that's not what happens. He doesn't swear, or shout, or even get that little, glinting look of fire in his eyes. It seems to have fizzled out, somehow, leaving only a wispy hint of what used to burn there so violently and for so long. It's strange to me, this tranquillity. It's like a biting dog that's given up his tricks.

"Baby," He sighs, stroking my cheek fleetingly. "How much you figured out?"

I've figured out lots of things in the past month — Enough for a lifetime.

I've figured out that being beaten by your Dad is wrong, but only to some people, and only if they happen to walk in on it. I've also learnt how to think for myself, a lesson taught by someone who promised I could trust him but ended up just another liar. I've learnt the feeling of a kill; the name for benches in a church. I've learnt my Dad is two people at once, like a mirror with a hidden edge. He's him, but he's all the men that came before him, too, all echoing their last laugh through a swing of his fists. I've learnt that loving your family above all else is a hereditary disease.

"Almost all of it." I settle on saying, thinking of all the things life has yet to throw at me. "Almost all of it."

He chews his bottom lip. Then, he pinches my cheek.

"You're my smart girl, huh?"

I smile under the weight of everything.

"Well, one thing at a time. Your old man can't hardly keep up." He lowers his hand, returning my faint smile. "For starters, it was Shane that shot me." I feel like I've been slapped. "I don't know what he's told you, or... or y'know, what yarn he's been spinnin', but it was him."

"Wh-Where? How?"

"I left that day to look for Jim. I didn't tell nobody where I was goin', 'cause I was— I was gonna kill him, baby." It's a tough thing to admit, but it's nothing I ain't heard before. When they first told me Ronnie was dead, and that my Daddy killed him, all I wanted to know was when I could see him again. "I's gonna ask you where his camp was that day, but seein' yer— yer little face, all fuckin' sun-burnt an'— I'on know. Plan changed. I asked Shane instead. And uh... Some walkin', I almost made it. I knew he was followin' me. He walks loud as Hell. Like a fuckin' Yeti."

I giggle. Shane don't got my Dad's finesse when it comes to slinking through the woods.

"I guess I's kinda hopin' he'd..." He takes a deep breath. I wait patiently for him to continue. "Anyway, he did."

"You lured him."

"Yeah. I walked 'bout two hours out before... 'fore I knew I'd waited long enough nobody would find us straight away, and then I spun around, and I tackled him to the ground. I could'a shot him, point-blank, but I wanted it to... W— I wanted it to hurt."

"'Cause he's a bastard cop?"

He falters when I ask this, pinching the bridge of his nose, like this is physically hard for him to get through.

He finds the courage to look at me again. "Yes, Harley, 'cause he's a bastard cop. 'Cause he made things difficult for us, and I wanted him to suffer for it. I got his nose again; fucked his ribs up. I was about to shoot him in the brains when he snatched the glock off me."

"And then he—?"

"Then he shot me."

"And... you didn't get anywhere near Jim's camp? You didn't see him?"

"That what he told you?"

"He said you got into a squabble wit' Jim, and that he shot you, 'cause he was mad about bein' left behind. But at first, he said it was Otis."

"Who the Hell's Otis?"

"He was a man that lived here. He was a hunter, like you. They said he mistook you for a deer, or sum', while he was out there."

Recognition washes over him. "Chubby fella?"

"You see him?"

"Yeah. Gunshot drew him over to us. I guess he was out huntin', then, like they say. Shane was gonna leave me there to bleed out, but with this guy fussin' all over us, that weren't really an option, no more, so he made up some fuckin' fairytale about how it was an accident, and he was new to the group an' they'd never take him back if they found out, and he pressured him into takin' the fall for him. I passed out 'round 'bout then."

"Why ain't he just own up to it? Tell everybody he shot you, plain an' simple?"

"'Cause you wouldn't wanna keep bein' his friend if you found out."

My skin goes cold. "You know about that?"

"Yeah, baby. I know. He rubbed in my face so much I ain't never gon' forget it."

He must see my lip wobble, and the way I'm too scared to even blink, 'cause he gives my hair a kiss. I've been dreading this moment ever since I told Shane, Fine, I'll be your friend, and now I've finally been found out. I'm a liar. I betrayed my Dad. Oh, he's gonna pull his belt out right now.

"I'm sorry, Dad." I shake my head, already pulling away, trying to stop what's to come. "Please, Dad. I'm sorry."

"Harley—"

"He tricked me. He made it seem li-like I had to be his friend. I didn't want to, I swear. He j— He just said a whole bunch'a things, and then—"

"Harley, baby, I ain't mad."

"And he— He—? What?"

"I ain't mad." He repeats himself, raising his brows. "I ain't."

"W—?"

This is like finding out the Earth is flat, or the sun is a square.

"I promise you, baby, I ain't mad at you for that. Not even a little bit. Never, ever." He promises, grabbing my shaking hand. "That man, he's... It ain't your fault. Might feel like it is, but it ain't. Nothin' he says or does is your fault. I should'a ended this shit a long time ago. You shouldn't even have to worry 'bout things like this, Harley. You can be friends with whoever you like. Don't fuckin' matter what I say. Don't listen t'me."

Don't—? Don't listen to me?

"Dad—?"

"I know." He says. "Just... I know. Sometimes Dad says confusin' shit, don't he?"

I nod vigorously.

"Well, I mean it. How am I supposed t'be mad atchu for just doin' what you're told? The way I raised you, ain't it?"

"Yeah, but... I mean, you hate cops."

"For a long time, yeah. Every time I watched 'em drag your Uncle Merle away, I hated 'em a little more'un the last time. They ain't very nice in prison, neither. Lots of rules. They got power over you in there. Makes 'em turn into assholes. But that's me, baby. My bullshit is my bullshit to handle, and Shane — Leave him to me, too. Askin' to be your friend an' shit, that's sum' wrong wit' him. Not you. Not your bullshit."

"If I told you this, like, a week ago, you would'a..."

You would'a beat me.

The unspoken words hang pungent in the air, weighing down on him.

"I—" He clears his throat; sighs deep, and hard. He mutters, "I— I probably would'a, yeah."

I've never seen him talk this away about a beating. He was never proud of it or nothing, but he was never proud about washing dishes, either.

It was just a part of life, but for now, I guess, it's not.

"So... you're not mad?"

"No, sweet girl, I'm not. C'mere."

I lay back down on his chest.

"I knew it was Shane," I murmur against him, "'cause the bullet was round."

"They took it outta me, huh?"

"It was real scary. You wanna hear the whole story?"

"Yeah, baby. I'm all ears."

I tell him about the gunshot, and Maggie on the horse, and how Shane and Otis went out for emergency supplies, but one came back empty-handed, and the other didn't come back at all. I tell him about the night of the surgery, and the funeral. I tell him about the chickens, too.

"They got eggs here, Dad. Lots of 'em. Scrambled, too." I smile. "You're gonna love it."

"Haven't had an egg breakfast in months."

We used to go to the diner, sometimes, and get eggs on toast when Merle wasn't around. Those were the best days of the week.

"They don't burn 'em here or nothin'."

He chuckles. "What 'bout two-dollar coffee? They got that here, too?"

"Only if you wanna fight for the last of the coffee beans."

"It's on." He scoffs. "I could use some good coffee right about now."

"You tired?"

"Baby, I'm exhausted." He smiles. "Keep talkin', though. I wanna hear everythin'."

"Okay. You wanna hear about the walker me and Carl found in the well?"

"The what?"

Herschel comes back in a while later to perform a check-up.

He's an animal doctor, but he's still got a real stethoscope hanging around his neck, and a little light he can shine in my Dad's pupils. I hold his hand as Herschel checks over the IV, the baggie of donor blood, and the smaller scrapes and bruises all over Dad's neck and face.

"Looks like you got into a brawl with a bear." He comments, dabbing his slashed brow with a cotton pad. "This'll sting a little bit."

He hisses. "Weren't so far off as you'd imagine."

Herschel drops the wad into the tin tray. "That about does it for now, I think."

"When can I get outta this bed?"

"When you're better." He deadpans, packing up. "Which should be in about a week. Walking, I'd say, would be reasonable in one or two days."

Dad glances at me, unimpressed.

"Doctor's orders." I shrug.

"Listen to my best patient's advice, Mister Dixon." Herschel smiles. "There's a reason her wound's healed up so nicely."

"I'm guessin' it ain't the fishin' line."

"No." The med-kit clicks shut. "It's not the fishing line."

"I can play outside with Carl, now." I tell Dad, proud. "I been takin' it slow. You gotta, too."

He kisses my knuckles, too tired to answer, but agreeing.

As he's about to leave, Herschel notices something on the ground by his feet, and bends to pick it up.

"Is this yours, Harley?"

He holds it up.

Much to my discomfort, it's the shredded get well soon card.

"Yeah." I take the piece he hands to me, confronted by its obnoxious colors. "It was meant to be a card. Not lookin' so good, now, though."

"Lemme see it."

Reluctantly, I angle it so my Dad can take a look.

"It's just a corner." I murmur. "I ripped up the rest of it."

"That looks real pretty, baby. You made it for me?"

"I don't know..." I muse, unsure. "Shane kinda helped me with it."

"That why you ripped it?"

"Yeah. I was angry at him. I didn't wanna look at it, no more."

"Well, I do." Dad squeezes my hand. "How 'boutchu make me another one?"

"But you're all better, now."

"I don't know about that." Herschel chuckles. "It'll be a while before he's one hundred percent again."

I consider this. "How about I just draw you a picture this time?"

"Sure. Draw me anythin' you want."

"I'll get you some crayons and paper." Herschel offers, stepping out the door. "I'll be back in a moment."

"Good to see you awake, man."

T-Dog, along with Rick and Glenn, walks into the room while I'm leaning against my Dad's side, working on the drawing set up in my lap. I got a clipboard to lean against, and a whole bunch of different colored crayons to use. Rick sits in the bay window, near Glenn, who rests in the rocking chair in the corner. T-Dog smacks Dad's shoulder.

"Thanks." Dad nods, joking, "What's this I hear 'boutchu eatin' all the pretzels, though?"

T-Dog laughs, leaning against the wall. "Girl, you snitched on me about that?"

Swallowing down a giggle, I just send him a cheeky glance.

"Whatever, man. Lock me up, then."

"I think I still got my handcuffs in the back'a our car." Rick offers, mock-serious. "I can go get 'em right now."

Glenn interjects. "Woah, woah, woah. Innocent until proven guilty, guys."

"He told me he ate 'em all." I butt in. "That's proof."

"Verdict's in, then, buddy." Dad shrugs.

"I ain't never delved into all'at court stuff or nothin'," T-Dog holds his hands up, "But I'm pretty sure that's hearsay."

Rick shakes his head, changing the subject.

"How you feelin', Daryl?"

"Sore. Stiff. Like shit."

"Gettin' shot in the stomach will do that to you."

"It's a miracle you survived." Glenn adds. "You lost a lot of blood. Thirty percent, I'm sure Herschel said. Something like that."

"You said you been givin' me yours, didn't ya?"

"Yeah. We weren't sure about anybody else's types, so we had to make do with what we had."

"I got Chinaman-blood runnin' through my veins." Dad laughs. "Hell's that mean for me, now?"

Glenn scoffs. "That you're slightly less of an idiot."

"Man, it's prolly true." T-Dog snickers. "What's the capitol of Russia?"

Dad sticks up his middle finger.

"What about you, Harley?" Glenn asks. "How's your side doing?"

I look up from the paper, where so far, I've drawn some spikey, green grass and colored in half the sky.

"It's a little better." I smile. "Y'know, I'm sorry for yellin' at you yesterday."

"It's okay. Don't worry about it."

T-Dog tsks, "What was all that about, anyway? What's up with Shane lately?"

"Maybe he's just feeling guilty about Otis." Glenn suggests.

"He's got a whole long list of things to feel guilty about." Dad says with distaste. "You wanna know who exactly it was that shot me?"

"No way."

Rick sighs. "I had a feeling."

"Why'd he go and do a thing like that?" T-Dog questions.

"'Cause he's off his fuckin' rocker, that's why." He retorts. "He hated my guts, so he went and shot 'em."

"Man, you think—? You think he left those supplies on purpose, then?"

I never thought of that. It would just add another layer of horror to that night.

"That poor guy Otis, man."

"Nothin' we can do about it, now. 'Less you think he's gonna do somethin' like this again, Daryl?"

He shrugs. "I'on know. Wouldn't put it past him."

"For now, I wanna keep this sorta thing to a minimum. I'm gonna ask Herschel again today about our arrangements here."

"We're only staying a week or two, right?" I pout.

"Until we find Sophia." Rick tries to smile. "But I'm gonna try change his mind."

"You still ain't find her?"

"No. Harley found her doll, but that's about it. We're gonna start grid-searching properly tomorrow."

I look back down at the page again, sad.

"Drawing done, now, chicken?" Dad asks, trying to lighten my mood a little. "Wanna show it?"

Nodding, I grab the sketch pad and turn it around so that they can all see. It's done. I drew me and my Dad in a field of flowers, but we're not holdin' hands or nothin' — We're killing walkers together. I don't think I got the crossbow exactly right, but I tried my hardest.

Dad laughs. "It's perfect, baby. That me?"

"Yeah. And me. That's the sun, and flowers, and a dead walker right there."

"Badass." Glenn approves.

"What that thing in the background?" Rick asks.

"Oh," I happily answer, "That's Dale. He's so scared, he ran away, and now he's just a little dot."

They all chuckle to themselves.

T-Dog offers to sit it on the chest of drawers, and it stands anew against a vase of real flowers, looking like it's belonged there all along.

Author's Note.

Finished this chapter at 5:49 AM 😣 Uuuuuuuuugh

Long author's rant below.

I got a comment the other day about how Shane was being really annoying, and I sort of agree. At first, I actually felt that way about Daryl, but now he's shown regret and apologized, and Shane's still a raging asshole set on taking Harley for himself. I guess he has good motives? Or HAD, at least... considering they've shifted from wanting to help her out a dangerous situation, to now being selfish. Then again... if I walked in on a man about to hit his 8 yr old daughter, I'd go apeshit, too.

It's going to be so satisfying when Shane gets what's coming to him. (I've been excited for it since the very beginning of this book. Rest assured, Shane will not see the light of day come Season 3.)

Started out as Daryl as the villain and Shane as the hero... Kinda switched.

Sophia's still missing... and Jim, he's MIA. Get ready for him to pop back up again.

Also, Harley is finally on good terms with Rick!! Took forever and a half but we got there. I chose to do this so he could replace Shane's role as pseudo-Uncle when the time comes. Glenn's already sort of there... but what's the harm in having TWO pseudo-Uncles? 😌

Anyway, I really hope you enjoyed reading this chapter.

Please leave your thoughts and feedback below. Sending lots of love!! <3