#then she'd find the Monster Six box before that point and think that Monster Six is meant to be RCG

[purplemninja]

If Very Little Nightmares ever got a DLC where we play as Six (AKA if my fanfic ‘Six’s path’ became canon (like that’s ever going to happen)), then this is a feature that I’d want it to have.

The top picture is an example of Six finding and opening one of the jack-in-the-boxes. Plus this is my first time drawing most of the characters in these images, so I hope they look okay.

Do you have any favourite of these jack-in-the-boxes? (Or favourites if multiple) Comment which down below.

[lepusrufus]

Double edged scalpel ch. 7

Ch.1 ch.2 ch.3 ch.4 ch.5 ch.6

Summary: in which Cassandra gets bullied and other sappy shenanigans

---

"Oh Nicole dear, so happy to see you again!" Duke's voice was cheerful as ever, tone masterfully crafted over years of being a businessman.

Nicole, taking small steps inside the ornate and now full of items room, greeted him with uncharacteristic giddiness.

"Duke! How's business?"

"Same as always, I'll be heading to Beneviento later tonight to deliver some tools for her," he took a long drag of his cigar and, noticing green eyes scanning over multiple items and said, "I also have your order."

With a childish grin on her face, she approached him, hands shuffling inside the small bag attached to her belt that all staff members had. She pulled out the money owed for her package and, in return, the Duke placed a decently sized box in her arms. With an oof she shifted it in a less precarious position, it's heavy contents seeming to plot against her small frame.

"Unfortunately I can't stay, duty calls. But thank you Duke."

"No worries, I do understand that your employers can be quite," he took another drag of his cigar, looking for the right word. "...demanding"

Nicole chuckled. That was one way to put it.

"Well until next time dear. Or if you find yourself in need of something else, I'll be here until six."

---

She was only wearing a long white towel when she heard a knock on the door. Assuming it was another maid, or even Anita inquiring about whether or not she'd be joining the rest of them for dinner, she opened the door just a crack.

It was a surprise to see none other than Cassandra standing there, her elegant frame in odd contrast with the modest corridor. She flung the door open, letting the brunette inside and took a quick glance down the hall, making sure no maid was on the floor after fainting due to fright.

"What are you doing here?"

"Aw, are you not happy to see me?" She was pouting, but her tone was joking.

Nicole rolled her eyes, but the small smile on her lips betrayed that she was indeed happy to see her. Cassandra only laughed instead, a beautiful melodious laugh, so unlike the dark cackles heard by prisoners down in the dungeons.

"Just sit down, I need to get dressed," Nicole pointed to the bed before moving to the small dresser and pulling out a clean uniform.

Cassandra went to sit on the slightly disheveled bed, eyes following the redhead's form as she let the towel drop to her feet and started to put on the various layers of her uniform. Then golden eyes darted to the box sitting on the bed. The tape sealing it had been cut not long after Nicole brought it back to her room to make sure all its contents made it safely. Not that she didn't trust the Duke, but postal service was postal service.

"What's this?" Cassandra inquired, trying to read the label but having no success as it had been scribbled over with a marker.

Nicole stilled for a moment, hands frozen on her white button up. She cleared her throat and shyly admitted:

"Actually that's for you. Do open it if you want."

Cassandra's eyes widened, a faint blush appearing on her cheeks. The gesture had really caught her off guard. She gingerly lifted the lid, inspecting it's contents for a moment and then hummed.

"And here I was thinking you like my hair. With how much you love to pull on it and all that."

Nicole, now fully clothed and sporting a deep blush, marched to her and plucked the two boxes of red hair dye from gloved hands. She placed them on her nightstand and, with her voice just slightly more high pitched, she turned to the brunette.

"Those are mine, I meant the rest of it." And, after a chuckle, "I mean have you seen my roots? They're horrible!"

Cassandra only gave her a deadpan look and, after a long moment, said: "I think your hair is beautiful."

She didn't wait for a reply, not that it would be anything more than a stammered mumble of course. Instead she chuckled and returned her attention to the box. She examined the rest of its contents and then gingerly lifted one of the few tomes inside. The cover was glossy and malleable, it's pages shiny and with a distinct typography smell to it. It was so unlike her other books, it's pristine white state making it feel extremely out of place in the castle. She glanced at Nicole inquisitively.

"I do appreciate the gift, don't misunderstand me, but surely you know there's a small bookshop's worth of medical books in this castle."

"With all due respect, from what I've seen most of them are at least somewhat outdated. Interesting, yes, but I thought you'd like to learn something more...modern." Then she pulled out another book. "This is the same one I used while studying forensic pathology. It would make teaching you some things easier. Uh… assuming you want that."

Nicole averted her gaze, suddenly unsure of the usefulness of her gift. Cassandra however grabbed her chin between two fingers and pulled her gaze back on her. She smiled, finding the shy demeanor beyond endearing.

"I'd love that."

A small smile appeared on thin lips and Nicole leaned in to kiss Cassandra. It was soft and short, but no less intimate than the deep kisses they shared so many times in Cassandra's bed.

They had to go anyway.

---

Let's go to the library, Cassandra said. It'll be empty, she said.

When Cassandra swung open the intricate door, only to find the other two sisters lounging on one of the couches, it's not like they could do a one eighty and leave the room. That would've been both impolite and highly suspicious.

Instead, Cassandra grabbed her arm protectively and led them to the reading spot farthest from the other two. They placed one of the textbooks on the small desk and Cassandra took out a notebook. This would've been a lot more fruitful with an actual body on hand, but there were still a couple days until the human flesh supply had to be replenished and Cassandra was beyond eager to start on some things. So, for now, they had to settle for theory alone.

It took all of five minutes for the other two sisters to make their way to their desk. Daniela had a giddy yet curious expression on her face, while Bela seemed as unreadable as ever, if not for a glint in her eyes that betrayed her interest.

"Whatcha dooooing?" Came Daniela's voice, who cocked her head not unlike a curious puppy would while looking at the book's contents.

"Working," Cassandra replied, a slight growl accompanying her words.

"Could've fooled me," Bela spoke from behind the youngest sister, eyeing the hand protectively placed on Nicole's waist.

Cassandra snapped her eyes at the blonde, looking ready to throw her notebook at her head but Bela ignored her sister's ire and addressed Nicole instead.

"What are you studying?"

"I uh- just some basic anatomy concepts. Thought it would be a good idea to start with the things that the older books in the castle don't cover."

Bela only hummed, grabbed an ornate chair nearby, and plopped herself at the desk, opposite from the pair. Daniela mimicked her sister, but instead chose to sit down right by Nicole on the small couch. It took more willpower than she would admit not to glue herself to Cassandra's side when Daniela's face came uncomfortably close so she could look over the book's diagrams. She stood still as a statue though. After a couple seconds of silence and Nicole trying to figure out what she was supposed to do, Daniela drew her head back, looking at her with what was possibly the most serious expression she had seen on the youngest sister.

"You do realize we're not going to hurt you right? How could we lay a finger on our dear sister's lover hmm?"

Nicole's breath caught in her throat. She wasn't sure if it was due to the word used to describe her or how Daniela apparently knew that she was utterly terrified of her. Cassandra sighed beside her and, seeming to at least partially read Nicole's thoughts, clarified:

"Your heartbeat."

Oh. Yeah. Yeah her heart was beating a million miles an hour. And apparently the other three vampiric occupants of the room were able to hear it loud and clear. It did very little to ease her mind.

"Please do calm down, it feels like someone is having drumming lessons. Bad ones," Bela complained, head resting in one of her hands like she was already bored.

"Then shove a sock in your ears," Cassandra snapped.

Bela simply leaned back in her seat and stretched her arms above her head. "And risk not hearing my beloved sisters sing along to some pop song?"

Cassandra shut her mouth, a blush now slowly spreading across her cheeks while Daniela burst out into laughter. Even Nicole couldn't help betraying the brunette and letting out a giggle.

"I didn't know you could sing."

"I can't."

"Au contraire dear Cassie! Should I remind you of the last time Dragostea din tei came on the radio? The pathos!" Daniela reached over Nicole's lap to lightly shake her sister's knee through her giggles.

Cassandra only let out a long groan, face now hidden in her palms. "I hate you both."

"Mhm, we love you too," came Bela's reply, accompanied by a chuckle.

Nicole couldn't keep a small laugh while she snaked her arm behind the brunette to show some form of support against the merciless assailants. Maybe not a complete betrayal.

The scene really had something deep within her heart aching beautifully. It reminded her of the countless times she and Alex would mercilessly tease each other, but still have each other's backs through thick and thin. And for this familiarity to come from people that any sane person would consider bloodthirsty monsters? Hell, maybe they should start considering her a monster too, for the only word she could use to describe them in that moment was endearing.

"So," Bela lightly clapped her gloved hands. "Now that your pulse isn't giving me a headache anymore, what are we doing?"

She had a confident smirk on her face, but her eyes betrayed curiosity. Same for Daniela and, although mixed with a hint of annoyance, Cassandra. She opened the book in front of her, one of general human anatomy, and decided that the digestive system would be a good enough starting point.

---

Their little impromptu lesson didn't last more than two hours. Two hours that proved to Nicole just how oddly human all three sisters can be. Of course she had gotten familiar with Cassandra, intimately so, but the other two still felt like two looming monsters hiding in the shadows. At least up until now.

Bela seemed oddly intrigued by Nicole's explanation, although unlike Cassandra, she seemed to view it more like a story than anything. Daniela seemed slightly more interested, asking questions here and there and even starting to giggle like a middle schooler when they got to the rectum section. That got an eye roll from the other two. Nicole just laughed, finally understanding Mrs Hawkins, her private biology teacher from before she was allowed to step foot in any public school.

After they were done, Bela simply stood up and bid them good night. Danila instead excitedly proposed the skeletal system for next time and picked up the books she abandoned earlier. Then, with a small tower of tomes she went through a door tucked at the very back of the room. Her study, Cassandra had pointed out as they made their way out of the library.

"I didn't know your sisters were interested in medicine too." Nicole kept her voice low, almost as if talking too loudly would disturb the shadowy hallways.

"More or less. Daniela likes it and has a bit of hands-on practice but she has her nose in romance novels more often than not. Bela finds it interesting but botany is what she really loves. That and classic lit." She added the last part with a grimace and Nicole had to wonder which author had offended her personally.

Before she could continue that train of thought though, her gaze moved to the windows, the cloudless sky beyond thick glass panels full of twinkling stars. Her mind kept going back to a few hours earlier and at what Daniela had said. Lover. Did Cassandra truly see her as one or was the youngest sister just being her over the top self. Did she see Cassandra this way? Nicole had not allowed herself to dwell on that up until now, the idea that the brunette saw her as more than an over glorified lab partner with whom she occasionally scratched an itch seemed almost laughable. But the small gestures of affection shown in ways Cassandra seemed to know best were undeniably there. And the familiar flutter in her chest at each of said gestures was also undeniably there.

"What's wrong?"

Cassandra's voice, accompanied by the slight echo through the empty hallway, snapped Nicole out of her thoughts.

"Oh um- nothing." She sounded as convincing as someone trying to sell you a fork while showing you a spoon.

And Cassandra didn't seem to buy it. She moved in front of the redhead, walking backwards with no concern over possible furniture to collide into along the way.

"You always get this… face when something's bothering you."

"I do not-" the indignation in her tone was weak, little more than an attempt to change the subject.

"Mhmm you do. You normally look focused. Kind of like, if someone tried to scare you by throwing an eyeball at you, you'd laugh." She would. "Now? Now you look like a rabbit that has no time to run and is just laying low hoping whatever's hunting it passes by."

Nicole shut up for a moment, only looking at the brunette in front of her incredulously. Maybe she was far more attentive than she gave her credit for.

"Uh. Just thinking." At a raised dark eyebrow, the no shit went unsaid, so Nicole tried to elaborate. "About earlier. When we were with your sisters and Daniela uh- Daniela called me your lover."

Saying that the words felt awkward on her tongue was close to the year's biggest understatement. It felt like pulling out teeth would be an easier task. Nicole had never been good with her words, having learned since childhood to keep her mouth shut. But the fact that Cassandra seemed to share her struggle brought some semblance of comfort.

"And?" As if they were talking about the weather.

"And… was she right in describing me as such?"

She couldn't help a small gulp when the brunette stopped walking, looking at her with a frown. Any sane person would be at the very least somewhat afraid in this situation. Sanity however was scarce these days as Nicole was afraid, though not of the bodily harm that may come from her inquiry, but rather of Cassandra's answer.

"Nicole, your tongue has been in my mouth." Amongst many other places.

The redhead's cheeks turned a slight shade of crimson and she mumbled for an answer. She wasn't sure how to tell her that sleeping together did not automatically make them lovers. But then again, Cassandra's thoughts remained a mystery more than anything.

Thankfully the brunette took the metaphorical reins of the conversation and stepped forward. She wrapped her hands around Nicole's arms, gentler than one would imagine possible from her, and bent down to whisper no more than an inch away from her ear.

"I'll have you know, I'm not particularly fond of letting anyone I don't deem important touch me. Especially not the way you do."

The words made something flutter in Nicole's chest, an unfamiliar and comforting warmth. Said warmth got chipped away at the slightest bit when Cassandra pulled back to look her in the eyes.

"Should I take it that it's not mutual then?" Cassandra's tone was nonchalant, almost as if she didn't truly care about the answer. She could keep doing whatever she wanted either way, afterall who was going to stop her? But to someone who got familiar with all her small quirks and habits, the waver in her voice was more than clear.

"No." The world slipped from her lips with no hesitation.

No hesitation, because the more she thought about it, and she didn't need to think a lot mind you, the more Nicole realized that she couldn't remember a time when she felt the way she did here. Sure the initial threat of death looming over her head was anything but pleasant, but once that melted into affection and nights spent in Cassandra's arms the thought of leaving didn't as much as graze her mind.

"No, no. It is," she repeated, more certainty making its way into her tone.

At that Cassandra smiled. A small, almost shy one would say if they knew her well enough, smile. Her shoulders seemed to lose some of their tension when she leaned down again, her lips stopping not even an inch away. Nicole wasted no time leaning forward, their mouths meeting in a kiss that mixed softness and need beautifully. Their lips slid against each other until, surprisingly, it was Cassandra to pull back and sigh.

"Come sleep, we have some cutting up to do in the morning."

Nicole frowned. "Tomorrow? Wasn't that supposed to be due in a few days?"

A devilish grin appeared on black lips, fangs shimmering ominously in the low light. "Bela caught a foolish man-thing sneaking around the forest on the castle grounds. She's really excited to turn this one into a nice steak."

The redhead only let out an oh in acknowledgement. Foolish indeed. At least they could finally put into practice a few autopsy tricks Nicole had been itching to show her.

She let herself be guided back to Cassandra's chambers and into her bed, that she had grown intimately familiar with. The last thing she felt before falling asleep was the brunette's cool skin, pressed against her own. A welcomed comfort among the myriad of soft pillows that surrounded them. Nicole wondered briefly if being undead meant it was hard to keep yourself warm, but the thought quickly slipped away as she fell into a dreamless sleep.

[agentravensong]

Little Nightmares 2: Six, Escapism, Trauma, and Destiny | An Analysis

So the minecraft boy played the Little Nightmares games. I haven't watched the streams, but having heard his take on the ending of the second game from people on tumblr, I'd like to share my own. Who knows, maybe he'll see this on his secret tumblr account. Not that I'd know if he did, because I don't watch his stuff. Making this more for me than anything else.

This is gonna be a long one, so strap yourselves in. Spoilers for all three games ahead (yes, there are 3. we'll get to that)

TL;DR, I agree that Six had understandable reasons for her final act in the game, but I think there's a lot more to her reasoning than her recognizing what Mono becomes when she sees his face for the first time. To prove it, we're gonna do a deep dive into her character.

Before getting to that, though, there's one thing about the timeline I want to make sure we all agree on:

Little Nightmares 2 is a prequel.

The team behind the games has stated as much in an interview, but it's heavily implied in-game by (well, by the fact that Six doesn't use her soul-sucking powers at any point in LN2, but also by) the secret ending cutscene you get after the credits if you "collected" all of the glitching remains of children you can find in the overworld. In short, after bursting out of a TV into a regular-looking room, Six sees her shadow self, who directs her attention to a poster on the floor for the Maw. Then, her stomach growls.

The main reason I'm bringing this up right away is because it confirms that Six is not trapped in the loop like Mono is. She probably isn't even aware that there's a loop at all.

And if that's the case, it hurts the argument that she recognizes at the end that Mono grows up to become the monster who kidnapped her. While Six is a smart and scrappy kid in a world that often defies logic, what are the chances that she'd be able to think that far outside the box and realize there's a time loop, which is the only way that idea could be possible?

That being said, you could argue that the Signal Tower helped clue her in on it to make her drop Mono. Or that, even if Six realized it wouldn't make sense for Mono to grow up to be someone she'd already met, the resemblance between him and the adult at least made her fearful that Mono would grow up to be a monster *like* the Thin Man, and that possibility was enough for her to decide she was better off alone. I can definitely accept that latter idea as part of her reasoning.

But to say that Six dropped Mono just because she thought he would become bad, for the sake of some greater good, misses out on another important factor. One that the developers alluded to on Twitter in their standard cryptic way when asked to explain the ending:

"Extracting someone from a fantasy can be deeply upsetting for everyone involved."

The team has stated multiple times, on Twitter and in interviews, that the main theme of Little Nightmares 2 is escapism. In the interview I linked above, they state directly that "the Signal Tower exists [in the world of LN] because the need for escapism exists", just as "The Maw exists because the hunger exists". Escapism is what the Transmission promises to everyone under its influence.

When Six is brought to the Tower, she's given a room filled with toys, and there's one in particular that stands out: the music box, a replica of the one she had while at the Hunter's Cabin. The music makes her docile. It makes her feel safe.

But Mono takes that away, by breaking down the door in the same violent fashion he first entered her life, and then by bashing the box to bits.

As a child in this horrible world who'd just been able to experience some peace for the first time in who knows how long, to have that ripped away so suddenly by a person you were just beginning to let yourself trust...

Well, even that's not the full picture. If you really want to understand why Six did what she did, you have to know what she went through before LN2.

The First Nightmare

Remember at the start when I said there are 3 games in the series? The third is Very Little Nightmares, a mobile game that is set not just before LN1 (as confirmed by the developers), but also, from all appearances, LN2.

To summarize in a few paragraphs: the game takes place in a big house on a cliffside called the Nest, home to a child called the Pretender who has other kids be brought there and turned into dolls for her to play with (not the same kind of dolls as the bullies... at least it doesn't seem like it). Six is one of the children in the Nest, but you play as a different girl. A girl who you assume is Six at first, because she's wearing the yellow raincoat.

Six and the Girl interact a few times throughout the game, both helping each other with puzzles as they try to escape. Near the end, the two of them are running from a monster together, but after Girl escapes into a shed, she closes and blocks the door behind her, leaving Six behind. This moment is the one you get a premonition of at the beginning of the game, like how you get a vision of the Hall at the beginning of LN2 and the Lady at the beginning of LN1. Certainly sounds like it's important to at least one of these characters.

A little bit later, as Girl runs from the Pretender, she sees Six again, following them down the cliff on a different path. She helps Six proceed, and in turn, when Girl is cornered, Six drops a boulder on the Pretender.

But it doesn't kill her. Instead, the ledge she and Girl are on collapses, and they both drop into the ocean. We see the empty raincoat float back to the surface before drifting away, and, after the credits, we see Six make her way to the bottom of the cliff, alone.

Six's Story

So, what do we learn about Six from this? That she's already seen that kids can be monsters, without having to grow up first. That she's tried being helpful and having a friend before, but they betrayed her for the sake of their own survival. And that, even when people try to be better, it doesn't matter in the end; they all die anyway.

From there, we know that Six somehow makes it to the land/island where the Hunter lives and gets captured by him. We know that she somehow gets her hands on this music box, and it provides a bit of respite, escapism, from her circumstances.

We know that Mono makes... not the best first impression on her. We see them learn to work together. We see that Mono will do anything to save her, but we can also see that he's largely the one dragging her into danger in the first place, and that he's just as inclined to violence as she is (like, if you actually count the number of enemies Mono kills versus Six in both games, ignoring the guests from the end of LN1, Mono winds handily). Because they have to be.

We see that Mono cowers under the bed, rather than reaching for Six, when the Thin Man takes her. We see him repeat her trauma of breaking down her doors in the Signal Tower, and we see him destroy the source of her escapism, because he can't see another way to help her.

And then, we see the results of all of that.

Why does she do it?

Six doesn't drop Mono for the sake of any greater good. She doesn't drop him to try and save him from his own fate.

She drops him because she's hurt. She's angry. She's scared, of him, and of the world at large, and the bits of safety she had - the false peace the Signal Tower provided, and the genuine friendship Mono had begun to forge with her - have both been stripped away, in the same instant, by him.

She drops him because she's a kid. A traumatized kid. And, to quote the interview from before one more time:

Who knows why kids do what they do? They're thrown into this world that hates them and have to find some way to survive to adulthood. If we're happy to just sit back and watch this struggle, who are we to judge how they do it?

What connects the protagonists of both games, and what makes them so affecting for me, is how they are shaped by the world around them, and how unavoidable this can feel. More even than their size and strength, it is this that underlines just how stacked the odds are against these kids.

Is that destiny? I suppose that's up to your definition of "destiny".

To be clear, this post isn't meant to absolve Six and/or put all the blame onto Mono. They've both been shaped by the world of nightmares they'd found themselves in, and they both make choices that hurt each other, out of fear, and anger, and ignorance, and pure survival instincts. There are no heroes in this world, but neither of the kids are evil or heartless.

I considered talking more about Mono here - about how the Transmission provides him with his own form of escapism, and how he might be the cause of the time loop he's trapped in - but this post is long enough as is. If you enjoyed my thoughts and would like to hear more about that topic, you'll get the basics of the theory from this post. I'd also highly recommend checking out the Little Nightmares theory posts made by @598-inspiration :)

Any new fans of the game, I'd love to hear your thoughts on all of this, or anything else Little Nightmares related! I'm far from an expert on these games, but I love talking about them - especially about these kids :D