writingdevil

[writingdevil]

Lovely writing you have here! Can you write something with Contrarian and Cold? They seem like polar opposites but have a common interest in finding interesting things to do (and screwing with the Narrator but he's not around in your ficlets) so seeing them interact with each other would be fun :D

(Yeah! I love them! They're such a funny and chaotic duo and I love seeing anything with them. Anyway, enjoy!)

Although Contrarian welcomed mischief and surprises, he found that it wasn't actually that fun when he wasn't aware of what was happening around him.

Restless wasn't a word that Contrarian ever thought that he'd be associated with, but in the weeks that they've gained their own bodies, he found that he couldn't sit still at all, with no way to satisfy him.

They were all figuring this new situation out, but it felt like everyone was figuring it out much faster than Contrarian. Sure, getting your own freedom was fun and all, but that also meant that they were responsible for themselves now, and Contrarian wasn't sure how to feel about that.

Hero said that he was just overwhelmed with all the new changes, but that couldn't be right. Contrarian didn't get overwhelmed, he got excited at things! It was just a nervous sort of excitement, one where he wasn't sure how to deal with it.

Contrarian would walk around their house, trying to find something fun to do, but all he would see were these birds that were actually figuring themselves out, becoming entirely new people that Contrarian was both happy and nervous for.

Yesterday, he walked into a room with Paranoid focused solely on preening Hero's wings, with the other too content and sleepy to notice him. Contrarian's not sure if he's ever seen either of them that happy before.

Then today, he looked out his window to see Smitten and Hunted coming back from a walk, laughing and looking more peaceful and happy than they ever were before.

Everytime he saw it, Contrarian had the urge to walk away, to get away from these weird, domestic scenes that were now taking place.

It wasn't that he wasn't happy for them, it was just-weird to see. It was weird to see voices that he's known forever, suddenly start to change, and not in a bad way.

Change used to be such a bad thing for them back in the cabins-the fear of being faced with something more monstrous than the last. Of course, Contrarian always voiced the opinion of simply walking away from it all, getting as far away from the danger as possible, no matter how fruitless that choice tended to be in the end.

But now they were free, and choices were good again, because there wasn't a horror to run from anymore. That was supposed to be a good thing, but it for some reason filled Contrarian with worry.

So he just kept wandering around, trying to either pass the time or find someone to annoy. But every second that Contrarian was alone, he was accompanied with nothing but silence.

He hated that. He hated silence and boredom and having to actually think about himself for once. So he did what he does best-he ran away from the problem.

He avoided everyone in the house, attempting to find the most secluded and forgotten room to hole up in, until he eventually found the kitchen, finding it empty by some miracle.

He had wanted to try and ignore his problems by eating, but he stopped at the sight of a figure already standing there, large wings wrapped around them.

All Contrarian had to do was shiver at the temperature, and he knew who it was.

"Cold! Sorry! Didn't see you there. What are you-uh-doing?"

Contrarian chuckled nervously to try and fill the awkward silence, and then Cold shifted his wings just enough so that his eyes were shining through the dark feathers, and he did not look pleased.

"I'm trying to avoid people, but that seems like an impossible task," Cold said, and Contrarian couldn't help but giggle at the other in amusement. "Why not just stay in your room, then? Nobody would bother you in there."

Cold rolled his eyes as if the answer was obvious. "Why should I stay in my room? There's nothing interesting in there, and I spend more than enough time sleeping in that room."

Contrarian felt like there was something deeper in Cold's tone, but it was hard to tell with the other.

Contrarian hadn't spent a lot of time with Cold, but he always saw him just popping up here and there, and Contrarian just assumed that he was always coming back from doing some weird shit in the woods.

Cold lowered his wings down past his shoulders once he realised Contrarian wasn't leaving. "I wanted to do something, but I don't know what," Cold said with a sigh, glancing around the kitchen.

Contrarian chuckled, but there was no amusement in the sound. He walked closer to the other and leaned against a counter. "That makes two of us," he mumbled, and Cold arched a brow curiously.

"Oh? Is the clown actually bored? When there's a million ways he could be annoying people?" Contrarian groaned in embarrassment as Cold teased him, tilting his head up to the ceiling as he thought.

He wasn't sure if it was a good idea to vent to Cold of all people. He had a pretty good guess as to what Cold would consider 'advice', so instead he threw the question back at him.

"Well why are you bored? Or, at least, being weird in a not-Cold way?" he asked, and watched in surprise as Cold averted his eyes.

"I'm not bored," Cold replied quietly, "everything's just-a lot more than I was expecting, and I don't know where to begin to try and feel something."

"Like the choices are overwhelming you?" Cold shrugged. "It's more like I'm not sure what will truly satisfy me, not like how all the others are figuring it out, seemingly far easier than me." Contrarian could just about sense a hint of bitterness in Cold's voice, and although he said didn't want to vent to the other, it still felt wrong to leave a flockmate feeling lonely and confused.

"I'm kinda confused as well," he said, bouncing up and down on his feet for something to do. He could feel Cold's eyes on him like frost sticking to his skin and turning it blue, but he kept a smile on his face as he said, "This whole freedom and agency thing is hard to wrap my head around."

"Why?" Cold asked, no trace of anything teasing or mocking to be heard, which calmed Contrarian down slightly.

"Because everything's changing, and it's not bad for once, and there's no annoying guy in our head telling us what to do. Sure, those are all good things, but what if-" Contrarian paused, taking a moment to look around the kitchen, until his eyes eventually fell onto a fork on the counter, and he grabbed it, holding it up for Cold to see.

"What if I wanted to try and juggle forks in the air because it could be fun? If we were in the cabin, everyone would tell me 'No Contrarian, that's so dangerous and anyways, we have this big, scary princess to focus on,' so then I have to do it."

"But there's no danger to ignore and no Narrator to defy," Cold said, piecing the dilemma together much quicker than Contrarian would have liked. Cold even sounded intrigued by it.

Contrarian stopped bouncing, and nodded with a bittersweet smile on his face. "The change is good, don't get me wrong. But-" Contrarian stopped, taking a moment to look out the window, hearing some of the others laugh, and just feel how happy they must be now.

"-But it's hard to feel like a contrarian nowadays."

Cold hummed lowly, and then neither of them spoke for the next few minutes, simply sitting in their confusion.

Cold wasn't sure what to try and feel anymore, and Contrarian wasn't sure how to feel like him anymore.

He heard Cold sigh, and when Contrarian looked up, he found the other staring at the fork in his hand curiously.

"Do you think you'd be better at juggling forks with or without your eyesight?" Cold asked, and Contrarian's entire body stopped in that moment, all brainpower focused on processing that question.

"What?" he blurted out with a laugh, noticing how Cold's wings had now completely unwrapped from his body, and he seemed to straighten up to his full height as his attention was solely on the fork.

"I don't think you'd be that good of a juggler to begin with," Cold said, and Contrarian's jaw dropped at the audacity. "You don't strike me as someone with good hand coordination."

"Excuse you, sir!" Contrarian exclaimed in playful outrage, a giddy smile already taking over his face. "I'll have you know that I have excellent hand coordination! You wouldn't be able to throw a blade out of a window as well as I could. In fact-" Contrarian slammed the fork back onto the counter, making sure the pointy ends were dug deep enough into the surface, and then marched off, gesturing for Cold to follow.

"C'mon!" he exclaimed with a newfound determination. "I'll show you how good I am at juggling-with knives, just to prove it to you. Hero tried to hide them all from me, but he can't stop my chaos forever. Let's go!"

Cold followed him without another word, but Contrarian did catch the hint of a smile on his face as they walked off together.

Maybe they don't have to get used to these changes right away or as quickly as the others, but maybe they just need someone else to make the process less daunting, and that was enough for them.

[writingdevil]

i think it's ok to play fighting games to cum. there are worse reasons to do something

[writingdevil]

Yes, I am a straight man. Yes, getting the shit beat out of me in an all-male mosh pit is an erotic experience for me. We exist

[writingdevil]

🍎

[writingdevil]

2023 hoodie shrug designs ⭐️ Which one do you like most?

[writingdevil]

Celestial sets ⭐️💫✨

[writingdevil]

Arcane celestials sweater dresses ✨ Which one is your fave? ✨

[writingdevil]

Star outfit ⭐️ Reposts appreciated

[writingdevil]

vampires always like “i could kill you if I wanted” like? yeah? so could another human being. so could a dog. so could a dedicated duck. you arent special

[writingdevil]

[writingdevil]

healthy romance starts w friendship

and bad romance starts w rah rah rah aha ha roma roma

[writingdevil]

I'm not caling you a liar, just don't lie to me.

sorry that Oppy has been featuring in too many of my comics. I actually hate his ass TT but this in particular was because @/coldranger endoctrinated me in mousetrap.

[writingdevil]

half hour doodle of a momma bat with babies

[writingdevil]

Do you have any Skeptunist headcanons you'd like to share?

[kicks down the door] IT'S MY TIME TO SHINE!

So, uh, I should probably warn everyone, it's 1500 words worth of random headcanons. And that's not even all of the HCs I have, I know there are a couple I'm forgetting... So yeah, it's gonna be long. I am so sorry, dear anon, I went a little crazy-

Well, have these old doodles of them that I think forgot to share before [I genuinely can't remember if I put these on my Tumblr before], just so that this isn't just one giant block of text. These are from like February or so, but I updated them to match their new designs [I gave them mouths], yippee!

Warning: I squish and stretch these guys like playdough, especially Opportunist. And by that, I mean they are likely very, very OOC, especially as they get further from the events of the game time-wise. So if you're looking for an accurate analysis and representation of how these two would interact, you might not like this post and my headcanons.

Also for context: this is all set in my main post-canon [post-Unknown Together ending] AU, where voices and vessels start off separately, and it would take a long, long, long while for them to meet. Without voices making vessels worse, and vessels making voices worse, everyone gets to slowly address their problems. Essentially, it's "everyone gets therapy" /j

With that said, Skeptunizm:

1. I like to describe the way they start their relationship / get to know each other with the word "curiosity". Opportunist is always scheming, always playing games, always trying to gain an upper hand. His mind is one giant puzzle, and Skeptic is very much curious about it and is drawn to figure out how Oppy thinks and what's going on in that rat brain. Oppy, meanwhile, is very much a suck-up, always looking for people to cozy up to, and so Skeptic, with his intelligence and general levelheadedness, feels like a natural choice for Opportunist to try to gain the favor of. He is interested in Skeptic, curious to see if he could get his trust and get him to join his schemes. Skeptic, of course, isn't stupid and doesn't fall for Oppy's tricks, but he's doing an investigation of his own, so he plays along. And so there they go, spending a lot of time together, naturally drawn to each other and curious about each other's strengths-

Okay, I know this is less "headcanon" and more of a "hear me out" on Skeptunist, but I had to write down exactly why I got so interested in these two in the first place. This is what started this train, and now I can't get off /silly

Here are some of my actual HCs:

2. One of the first HCs I made for these two: they are both yappers and will not shut up unless you interrupt them. In Oppy's case, he likes the sound of his own voice (/j), or rather, he likes to brag and talk all about his wonderful accomplishments (they are all greatly exaggerated, and no one buys it). Skeptic, meanwhile, is bursting with weird esoteric knowledge and interests, and he will talk about it all if not stopped. And part of the reason why they get along so well is that they actually *listen* to each other's endless yap: Skeptic listens to Oppy because he likes trying to piece together which parts of his stories are exaggerated and which parts are true, and of course, he's also taking extensive notes on Oppy and his bragging tendencies (still gotta figure out the rat). As for Oppy, I think at first, he is half-listening to Skeptic out of politeness, just to get on his good side, but at some point, he genuinely gets interested in some of the topics that Skeptic talks about, especially ones he thinks could be useful for his schemes and general persuasiveness, like psychology or linguistics/pragmatics. So they both talk a lot, but they also listen to each other-

Oh god, these are all so long- Well, more are under the cut!

3. Skeptic likes to investigate and learn about his fellow flock's experiences with the Construct, and since he and Oppy never really met there (outside of Razor and MoC, but they haven't even talked to each other once during those), Skeptic is extra curious about what the routes he was in were like, what the Princesses looked like, how he acted during said routes, and so on, and so forth. Of course, he knows that Oppy was a notorious betrayer and backstabber, but he wants to hear about it from the man himself. Generally though, Oppy avoids the topic (until they get closer) because he doesn't really like talking about the Construct (the only exceptions are Wraith and Witch, which he talks about quite a bit as an explanation to his hurting right ankle and back, but that's more of an Oppy HC)

4. On the topic of Oppy's ankle, once they are actually in a romantic relationship, Oppy will sometimes pretend that his ankle hurts (or back, but usually ankle) just so that Skeptic can carry him places. Skeptic can very easily tell when Oppy is lying, so sometimes he goes, "You're not fooling anyone, Oppy," but sometimes, he plays along and goes, "Fine, just this once though" (it will happen again). Though, if Oppy's ankle actually genuinely hurts, and he's having trouble walking, Skeptic can usually tell that, and he will very gently carry him around even without asking. God, these birds make me so sick-

5. On the topic of the game routes, I'd like to think they would also bond over their experience with HEA (now that Skeptic is there instead of Paranoid). I feel like neither of them is particularly fond of that route (especially the "lit torch" ending), and I actually had a fic idea where Skeptic comforts Opportunist after the latter wakes up from an HEA-flashback-nightmare. Yes, I did also reference that idea in my "It was in your nature" fic. I will write that idea one day. Maybe-

6. Oppy is really good at figuring out everyone's likes/preferences without ever asking them directly, and of course, he did so for Skeptic, too. So whenever he brings Skeptic gifts, he just oh-so-happened to know that Skeptic's favorite flowers are irises, that he likes super dark chocolate, and that his favorite dessert is carrot cake. Skeptic tries to get Oppy to divulge where he learned these from, but Oppy just charmingly smiles (the answer is Smitten, and Skeptic figures that out fairly quickly, Grey brothers my beloved <3)

7. On the topic of Oppy figuring stuff out without asking, I don't remember if I ever mentioned this on my Tumblr, but I used to HC Skeptic as touch-averse aroace / demiromantic ace. If you've seen my recent Skeptunist art, you can probably tell that I've since changed my mind (and finally decided that he is a demiromantic ace), but I do still think that Skeptic is pretty particular about hugs and prefers certain gestures over others. He doesn't think it's that big of a deal, however, and wouldn't complain about that to Oppy, and if he ever mentions it, it'd be more of an "isn't it interesting" kind of statement. Oppy does his best to respect these preferences because as much as he is an annoying little rat, he doesn't want to make Skeptic uncomfortable, especially once he genuinely grows to care about him <3

8. On the topic of physical touch, I HC touch-starved Oppy (because of that one PatD line where he asks the Narrator about what Dragon's hand feels like) who desperately tries to hide that fact from everyone. Skeptic eventually figures that out (with some help from Smitten), and while Oppy is not happy about that, he does actually really appreciate physical contact: hand holding, hugs, cuddles, and more, though, of course, he will never actually admit that out loud.

9. They enjoy playing games together, specifically card games or stuff like chess. For chess specifically, a friend suggested this idea where Oppy, at first, has no idea how to play chess besides the basics, and so when they play, it's them mostly just chatting, and Skeptic barely paying attention to the game (he doesn't want Oppy to feel bad about not understanding the game)... but over time, Oppy actually learns different strategies and whatnot, and while Skeptic isn't paying attention, Oppy just puts him in checkmate. Wait, I actually have an old crappy sketch of that idea.

There you go, them! I had a few other HCs related to them playing board games with other voices (mainly that they would be scarily good at a game like Codenames together), but with the HEA update, I actually think now that they both would have trouble playing board games on a "voices game night" so they (along with Hero) don't really participate in those, at least not for a while.

10. Oppy is very embarrassed to admit that he hates and has trouble sleeping in pitch darkness. Skeptic, meanwhile, is a night owl who will stay up until 4 am reading books or writing random notes, so Oppy likes falling asleep in Skeptic's room since he always has a light/candle with a very soft/warm light. Yes, this is all set up for cuddles. No, I am not sorry /silly

11. Skeptic writes his notes almost exclusively shorthand, and none of the voices can read what the hell they say. Except for Opportunist, who learned shorthand just so that he can understand Skeptic's notes (and do just a little bit of snooping). Skeptic is fully aware of what Oppy is doing, but he doesn't mind, most of his notes are random nonsense anyway.

12. Skeptic often gets very lost in his readings/investigations/writing/whatever, and other voices often have to remind him to eat and take breaks and stuff. Of course, Oppy is one of them, and he constantly pokes fun at Skeptic for his terrible eating habits. But he also definitely brings Skeptic snacks and lunch, and also frequently takes him places just so that Skeptic actually takes a break (I certainly did not write a fic that started from that idea). In general, Oppy does a lot of small favors for Skeptic, which originally started as him trying to get on Skeptic’s good side, but as they got closer, it just became part of Oppy’s love language, if that makes sense. I imagine neither of them is good with words, so both express care in literally any way that’s not words /lh /exaggerated. 

13. They banter. A lot. It’s EG ship, and EG cannot live without banter. So of course that’s included in the ship [aggressively nods]

…Again, I am so sorry, this ended up so long, and it isn't even all of my HCs, those are just the ones I could remember off the top of my head like that. I, uh, am not okay about these birds. Please send help /lh /j

Anyways! Thank you for asking, I'm sure you got way, way more than you were expecting, I hope you enjoyed reading my silly HCs for my favorite silly ship! As long as it turned out, I do love yapping about my voices, my designs, and my silly HCs, so I genuinely always welcome these kinds of asks!!

[writingdevil]

Magicians

[writingdevil]

its so fun to make a character whose moral compass is not actually based on their own personal ideals but is a poor imitation of a more grounded person they care about. if a beautiful woman disagrees with me i will immediately change my views. idgaf about this problem but my best friend WILL get mad at me if i don't help solve it

[writingdevil]

For the pairing of the voices... how does Hero/Quiet sound?

(Oooh, that sounds interesting! Especially because I know how much Hero cares for TLQ-it makes me ill how much Hero loves him and wants what's best for him. Also, usually whenever I refer to TLQ I capitalise Him and He no matter what, but I won't do that for this one because it'll look annoying to me. Anyway, enjoy!)

Sometimes, when Hero dreamed, it felt like he was back in the Long Quiet's head. Sometimes the Long Quiet was even in his dreams. They usually left him feeling empty yet warm somehow. Hero always tried not to dwell on it.

Tonight was no different, except for the fact that this dream felt more real, probably the closest to being back in Quiet's head, in Hero's opinion.

Hero opened his eyes, and he was met with a dark abyss that felt vaguely familiar. But he couldn't concentrate too much on that, not when he was in the palm of the Long Quiet's hand.

He looked up, finding the big guy smiling down at him fondly. He was huge, and Hero couldn't help but feel like a bug that would be gone in a second, should Quiet choose to do so.

Instead, Quiet cupped Hero with his palms gently, gazing down at him with such love in his eyes that it made Hero's heart ache.

Hero opened his mouth, but he had no idea what to say.

Quiet seemed to realise this, and brought him closer and softly said, "Hello, old friend." The sound of his voice rumbled through his dreamscape, sending a shiver up Hero's spine. He had missed the sound of the Long Quiet.

Hero chuckled in awe, then awkwardly waved up at him, face burning at how stupid he must look. But Quiet's eyes seemed to get brighter at his movements, and he leaned his head down further, as if anticipating his next move.

Slowly, Hero began to relax under the exceptional gaze of a God, his God, and said, "Hey big guy, it's been a while."

Quiet nodded, something akin to guilt flashing in his eyes for a second, before it was replaced with fondness. "I've missed you."

Hero gulped, swallowing the dark mass of complicated emotions that threatened to turn this dream into a nightmare. To avoid that, Hero focused on the longing in his own heart and replied with, "I've missed you too. But, to be honest, sometimes I envy you, because you don't have to deal with the rest of the flock anymore."

Quiet laughed softly, tilting his head to the side curiously as he asked, "How are they?"

"Loud," was Hero's first thought that he blurted out, "loud and chaotic. But I-" Hero lowered his head bashfully, then continued, quieter this time, "-I love them all, despite the headaches. They're all so brave in their own ways, and watching them decide what to do and who to be has been an amazing experience."

Hero didn't realise he was smiling at the thought of his flock, not until he heard a low rumble in the space around him, and judging from the look on Quiet's face, he could immediately tell that he was aww-ing at him.

Hero flushed harder at softness in Quiet's eyes, and quickly started to just blurted out anything that would come to his head. "I mean, Stubborn's always going out and trying to pick a fight with anything that moves in the forest, so it's always fun to watch that." He started to rock back and forth on his heels, doing anything to make him look not as stupidly lovesick right now.

"Also! Some of them have gotten some fun hobbies! Smitten loves baking, and he's so good at it. Skeptic and Opportunist are always either playing cards or chess, and sometimes they'll be at it for hours and-"

Hero stopped, finding tears suddenly pooling in his eyes. He forced himself to ignore the worried look Quiet subjected him to, ducking his head and taking deep breaths in, just like he would instruct Paranoid to do.

But then he felt the very tip of a claw under his chin, and just an inch of movement from it was enough to make Hero look up at Quiet.

"What's wrong?" Quiet asked, "Did I upset you?"

Normally, Hero tried to be nothing but kind and supportive to the Long Quiet, sticking with him and his decisions to the very end. But right now, he was feeling too many things to keep being kind.

"It's just-" Hero quietly mumbled, but he knew the Long Quiet would always hear him, "-this is just a dream. You're not actually him."

Quiet blinked in surprise, but didn't say anything, and Hero was too busy trying to keep his composure to think too deeply about it.

"I'm saying all this stuff about the flock and about how much I love them-but you should've been there with them," Hero revealed, desperately blinking back tears. "You should've been able to see them grow from just voices to the amazing birds they are now. You would've loved them."

But Hero knew that could never happen. He could never have his love and his flock in the same place. Being with the Long Quiet meant going back to being a voice, and then none of them would've had the chance to go through all the beautiful, painful growth that they had to become them. But they also couldn't of gotten that chance unless the Long Quiet left them.

It was a lose-lose situation.

Hero closed his eyes and kept inhaling and exhaling slowly, until it felt like he wasn't about to explode with grief anymore, and then he heard a nervous, "What about you?"

Hero opened his eyes, finding Quiet gazing down at him with such concern that it touched Hero's heart, that his mind was able to recreate what the God was like so perfectly.

"How have you grown, my Hero?"

Hero giggled awkwardly at the way the name sent a rush of giddy warmth through him, and he desperately tried to ignore how his face was burning. He must've really forgotten what it was like to be in the Long Quiet's presence.

Hero ducked his head, but he knew Quiet was grinning at him in that playfully way that Hero remembered, so he distracted himself by saying, "Well, I've sorta become the leader of the flock. I like it. I like that they trust me enough for that."

Quiet hummed softly, and Hero looked up as he said, "You were always the one that held us all together."

Hero couldn't help but instinctively flap his wings at Quiet's words, at how he kept being so sweet to Hero. Had the Long Quiet actually been that nice to him? Or was Hero just dreaming about something that was never there in the first place?

He pushed that question to the side, forcing a big smile on his face as he continued, "Also, turns out, I'm actually quite a decent flyer." Quiet's eyes widened in surprise. "Yeah," Hero said, nodding excitedly, "I'm actually one of the best flyers in the flock. You should see me out there, Quiet. I can't get enough of the sky."

Hero smiled at the memories that came to him in that moment, the feeling of the wind rushing past his feathers, getting to feel larger than life as he stared down at the land below him, how all of his insecurities and fears were forgotten so easily when he was up in the sky.

He beamed up at Quiet, who stroked a thumb over his wings in appreciation, and Hero tried not to shiver at the feel of it.

But then Quiet said, "I wish I could've seen it all."

Because then it hit Hero again. This was all just a dream. The Long Quiet wasn't actually talking to him. This was all just a stupid fantasy of Hero's.

He didn't realise that tears were returning to his eyes, not until Quiet brought him closer, close enough that Hero could reach out and grab one of his enormous feathers on his chest.

This time, Hero didn't fight the tears as they slowly fell down his face, much more concerned with the anger and grief twisting in his heart. He heard Quiet ask him if he was okay, but he ignored it. He wasn't okay. He will never be okay with this.

He choked on a sob, and then blindly reached out to grab the feathers in front of them, clutching them so hard that he hoped he hurt Quiet, even if it was probably nothing more than an itch to him.

He glared at the chest in front of him, sucking in deep breaths as he silently cried, and Quiet allowed him to get out his emotions without complaint, merely moving a finger to gently stroke Hero's wings in comfort, and Hero hated that it was working.

He was always on Quiet's side, but right now, he couldn't help but be against him as he quietly said, "You know-I don't think I forgive you. It's too hard to forgive you." If Quiet was shocked or hurt, he didn't let it show.

"Sometimes I'm just angry at you for abandoning us, when I never left you once," Hero spat out, because he could never be this angry in real life, so this was the closest he could get.

"I don't hate you, but I hate that you left us all alone, and you didn't even have the decency to say goodbye." Hero leaned his forehead against Quiet's chest, squeezing his eyes shut as he sobbed out, "We all loved you-I loved you."

That was when he felt Quiet tense up beneath him, but it didn't matter. Quiet would never actually hear this, and Hero knew that no feelings would make them change their minds.

Quiet would pick the Shifting Mound.

Hero would pick the flock-without question.

He was forced to compose himself as Quiet lifted him up higher, high enough so that their eyes were level with each other.

Hero could see the guilt and pain in Quiet's eyes-but still something soft and tender.

"I'm sorry for hurting you like this, my Hero," Quiet said, and even though this was just a dream, Hero kept the words close to his heart.

"I want you and the entire flock to know how proud I am of you all, for the people you've grown into."

Hero nodded, but then Quiet brought him even closer and whispered, "I love you, Hero."

Hero opened his eyes, and his cheeks felt flushed and damp. 'It was just a dream,' he reminded himself, but he still couldn't help but repeat every second of the dream in his head.

-

Somewhere far else, a God wakes up and lets a bittersweet smile appear on his face. As much as he missed his flock and his Hero, he knew they had each other. He knew they were safe at last.