Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Wetness pervaded everything here. The moss hung in damp clumps and tendrils from the trees, squishy mud and decaying plant matter made up the only surfaces that poked out over the algae strewn waters. Such was a swamp, and that was where he’d been left to rot.

Whatever it was that kept him going was only fueled by his rage, and slowly, agonizing inch by inch, he regained control of his limbs. His claws dug into the muck under him and pulled, what metal remained of him creaking as rust scraped against rust to add its scream. It was almost cathartic, since his own voice box was hopelessly clogged with mud and weeds.

Despite never having to breathe before, the struggling wreck of an animatronic gasped deeply when he breached the surface of the swamp water, hacking sludge out of his fans and orifices until he heaved from a stomach he shouldn’t have. Something had changed him while he’d stewed at the bottom of the swamp, crept in and made him...something new.

When his innards had finished purging themselves of the filth inside, the strange mix of machine and organic matter staggered to his feet and used a tree to brace himself. He was dizzy, whatever he had as a gyroscope taking time to get used to standing after so long lying on the bottom.

It takes a while before he’s able to get out of the swamp, when the water he can hear is running and clear. He sees his reflection and feels a stab of disgust at the changes. His body is dotted in dripping weeds, bits of pulsing green organs showing from the cracked and open parts of his torso. He doesn’t know what he is anymore, but he’s not just an animatronic anymore.

But his rage, his need for vengeance is what kept him alive, and he will keep his name at least. The humans will learn to fear the name of Kang.

Chapter Text

You were kind of surprised to find this game. It was supposedly only in production for a year due to a law suit that got handed to Fazbear after an incident in the daycare at one of their Pizzaplexes. But, being the game collector and enthusiast you were, you instantly snapped up the beaten up plastic case with its disc inside. Finding this, at a garage sale, for only five dollars, was gold. This game went for HUNDREDS online due to its rarity, so scurrying home felt like getting away with robbery.

Putting the disk into your console after cleaning it, you grin as you see the cheerful menu screen load in. A bright blue sky on top with a shining sun and a dark night spangled with stars and a crescent moon on the bottom, with the menu in the center. “Learning with Sun and Moon” dominated the upper part in playful bubble lettering, and the buttons for “new game”, “options”, and “difficulty” below it.

Not bothering with anything else, you use your controller to press “new game” and enter the educational world beyond the title screen. You could see the two robots mentioned in the title, Sundrop and Moondrop, but in a stylized, more fluid look, somewhere between their real world appearance and the illustrations used in the ads for their themed candy.

Sundrop was the first to speak, waving happily at the screen, “Oh, hello, new friend! Welcome to the Daycare Garden! Moon and I have been waiting for ages to meet you.” He had soft golden eyes and a cheery smile, dressed in red and gold that toned well with his warm yellow and cream body. The graphics were pretty good for a game of this era, the grass around the ‘garden’ looking soft and inviting as Sun’s mouth kept moving despite there being no more text to generate. Ah, the charm of older games.

When you clicked one of the buttons on your controller to move on, the camera faded out and back in with Moon in the center instead, “Yes, it feels like we’ve been alone for so long. Why don’t you pick one of our games and stay a while?” He had red eyes, and while Sun’s voice had been energetic and booming, Moon’s was raspy and quiet, his expression almost sleepy as he gestured to the side. Huh...Moon wasn’t talking after his text ended. That’s odd.

Still, you had a game to play through, so you click the button to continue. One camera zoom out later, and you’re looking at a field of various flowers and vegetables that was split down the middle between night and day. Sun said almost giddily, “Pick any game you like and Moon or I will guide you through it. If the games are too easy, you can change the difficulty from the menu screen!”

Moon cautioned, “But please, try not to pick the Hardest difficulty. We don’t want to be too rough on you, after all.”

That was weird, you thought. Usually, games that mention difficulty either stop at just mentioning it, or encourage you to try the harder ones. But you’re just seeing what this game has to offer, so you shrug it off. You probably will only play it once anyway.

--

The game was surprisingly nice. The music was upbeat and playful in Sun’s games, and calm and warm in Moon’s. Sun had a number matching game, word association, and a pretty neat puzzle where you had to match colors across tangled wires, while Moon had a music puzzle (match the note pattern), a sorting game with blankets, and a flashlight hide and seek game where you had to move the light to find him in the dark based on his laughing (which wasn’t exactly friendly sounding but it added some spook to the dark game).

Once you’d beaten all the games, you got a star, and when you got all the stars, Sun cheered on the home screen, “You did it! You beat all our games with flying colors, starshine!”

Moon hummed softly, “Either you’re a very smart kid, or a thoughtful adult checking our games. Thank you, either way. It’s been fun to play again.”

Sun nodded and clasped his hands in front of his chest, “Moon’s right, but please come back again soon? We’ll have more challenging games next time, just pick a higher difficulty.”

Having had fun, you nod, and you click the option to ‘say goodbye’ on the menu. Both of them wave and say “bye bye, new friend!” before the game boots back to the title screen.

That’s enough for today, so you turn off your console and go make yourself a snack.

-

When you have time the next day, you boot the game up again, picking the ‘hard’ difficulty out of the three choices.

You’re kind of surprised when you see a “continue” option pop up once you do, the ‘new game’ having vanished. Shrugging, figuring it was a weird UI choice, you click continue and find yourself back in the Daycare Garden.

“Welcome back, friend!” Sun waves with both hands and bounces on the balls of his feet, “We’re so happy to see you again! It seems you want a challenge, so Moon and I have new games ready!”

Moon nods, but you notice when he smiles that he has sharp teeth now. You don’t think he had those yesterday? Maybe you just didn’t notice? He gives his creepy chuckle, “We worked hard to make sure they were good. Feel free to pick whatever game you like, starshine.”

You’re impressed with the amount of voice lines for this kids’ game, and you go to the games with excitement. They ARE different minigames, Sun has a ball throwing one to choose the right word in a sentence, a ball-pit dunk tank for himself that requires you to turn a shape to make the right shadow outline on the wall, and a trapeze game where you need to finish a rhyme for him to move forward. Moon’s games are still cozy, but you notice the lighting is much dimmer in them now, almost like candlelight. His music game has changed to instrument identification, the sorting game is replaced by a simple logic puzzle to place names on their proper pallets for nap time, and finally a simple maze with a flashlight where you choose directions based on science questions. The maze is decorated in stars and sparkles, but the darkness was still eerie since you could hear Moon’s giggles in the distance.

Once again, you get six stars, and Sun’s rays spin in happiness, “You are a clever little star, aren’t you? That’s twice you’ve won our games, and you’re so so so good at them!”

Moon looks a bit sad, holding the end of the nightcap that decorated his head instead of rays, “Yes, your time in our daycare is almost over. Even if you are a grown up, we’ve still grown fond of you. Be sure to come back again. You still have one safe difficulty left.”

Safe? That got you curious, but you don’t say anything, instead picking the ‘say goodbye’ option again and getting another wave but they say “goodbye” this time.

Not sure what Moon meant by ‘safe’, you decide to look this game up online. The usual reviews from the time are of parents complaining that Moon was scary, not liking how Sun and Moon were shirtless, accusing the game of being satanic for using six games over three difficulties for being 666, and others just saying “My kid loves it and plays it over and over. Good job” sorts of things.

But that’s what hit you, when you keep reading there are only three levels of games. Screenshots show “easy, hard, harder” on the screen for difficulty. Yours...today you’d seen a “hardest” difficulty.

Odd. So you go to the screenshots of the game and...wait, Moon’s third games weren’t supposed to be in the dark? His first game was supposed to be a memory game with pillows?! And the second was...was a piano memory game. Oh stars, then why was yours so different?

You try to look up beta versions of the game if there were any, but there aren’t any known ones. Your case is just the same as all the other ones online, and the guidebook inside has no clues either. A sinking feeling in your chest tells you something is very wrong, and you look at the case in your hands with trepidation. Sun and Moon have been so cute and welcoming, you don’t want to believe there’s anything sinister going on, but...you’ve lived on the internet your whole life. You know the stories.

-

When you open the game up the next day, you click on the harder difficulty and go in, feeling nervous and upset. You know what the games are supposed to be now, and you hope you find what the internet said.

When you load in, the garden is...different. It’s flowers are darker colors, and somehow sharper in focus than before. The whole area looks like it got a graphics upgrade and Sun and Moon are waiting for you as always, also looking more saturated in their outfits, the dark blue of Moon’s and bright red of Sun’s pants standing out in jewel tones.

“Welcome back, starlight!” Sun seems perky, but his spinning rays stop for a second as dismay shifts his expression, but it glitches back to happy quickly, so you aren’t sure. But he sounds nervous after that, “We’re so glad to see you again! This is our big challenge, so be ready! We hope you like our games.”

Moon’s teeth are definitely sharp, and his eyes went from red pupils on a white background to fully red. But his voice is still soft and raspy, a little hurt even, “We’re going to do our best for you, starlight. Enjoy yourself.”

The games are still fun, and Sun’s games match like they always do, but he seems a little desperate in his voice lines. “Are you having fun, starlight? Are ya? Are ya?” he says as you finish a whack-a-mole style game, but instead of seeming eager, his body language is tense and pleading. When you finish the timed quiz game on basic geography, he murmurs, “We really missed having fun, and we want to play more.” Your heart is breaking when he says quietly after his final game, a clear-the-tower game with multiplication and division, “Please don’t leave us in the dark again.”

Moon’s games are almost totally dark now, just a single nightlight glowing blue in the background. His sharp smile was sad, guiding you through a domino puzzle and a sliding tile puzzle with soft words, mostly silent. But when you hover over the last of his games, he says urgently, “WAIT.”

Both you and Sun look at him, and Moon seems to...tremble. “I won’t be myself in this game. Or the next difficulty. Please don’t throw us away because of me. Please stay.”

You have an option on the screen, three answers. “Comfort him” is one, “stay silent” is another, and “play anyway” is the last. You can feel that this isn’t just a game now, and choose to comfort him, and are shocked when the mic icon pops up. You speak into the controller, heart thudding in unease but wanting to reassure Moon, “Even if I was scared, I don’t let go of something I enjoy. And I’ve enjoyed you two. I don’t know why you’re aware, but I want to be good to you. Both of you, even if you’re worrying me, Moon.”

He nods, and Sun hugs him, saying with genuine gratitude, “Thank you, friend. I hope you’re telling the truth.”

You go into the game then, and your avatar is running. You have to answer a trivia question to choose which path you go down, and ominous circus music is playing. Moon’s laughter is truly unhinged, but you keep his words in mind. This isn’t Moon, not really. It’s something controlling his sprite.

So you make sure you answer correctly, getting to the end of the path with a shower of confetti and get booted to the main hub. Moon is panting, sitting on the floor and seeming exhausted.

Sun congratulates you in his stead, “Oh, friend, you did so well! You beat the whole basic game, that’s so wonderful! Grown ups are so skilled, wowie!”

You could tell, now, that his eyes looked right at you, but it was a kind look, a thankful look. “Moon and I haven’t had this much fun in years, and even if it’s the last time now that all the safe games are done, we so so so adore you for it.”

He kneels and rubs Moon’s back, who looks up at you, “Starshine...don’t try the next difficulty. He’ll hurt you, the...the problem. For real. Please stay safe.”

you don’t know if it will work, but you speak into your controller’s mic again, “I don’t want you to worry, so I won’t. I’m curious, but you’re both scared so I won’t. Whatever’s wrong, I want to help. You two don’t deserve to be trapped and scared.”

Sun’s rays flick in and out of his head, and he sounds on the brink of tears, “Really? Oh...oh starshine….Yes, please. Please help.”

Moon nodded, his breath seeming to have slowly returned, “I don’t want to hurt people anymore. You’re too kind, but thank you.”

You nod, and leave the game running. You’re going to need to chat with the boys quite a bit before you even have an idea on what is happening, but at least you have something to keep you occupied on this long lonely summer.

Chapter Text

The walls of the old castle almost breathed cold into the abandoned halls, and your friends didn’t seem bothered even as you shivered.

Well, friends might be a stretch, but they were the only people who bothered to talk to you and you’d rather be with them than stuck in your thoughts alone. Even if they made you go into dangerous places like this with them, and do most of the work in your shared classes, and pay for their food if the group goes out.

Setting up the tents in the biggest room felt stupid, but you weren’t in enough power to make any decisions, so you did as told. Your tent was smaller, older, just a ratty second hand thing, but it was yours and you liked it. You put it away from the other tents so you wouldn’t have to hear their crude jokes, random sex, and drunken burps.

As you were settling in, you went to the corner behind your tent and laid a few sprigs of lavender and a little jar of honey against the wall, out of sight so none of the others would try to steal it or destroy your tiny offering. “I respect this is your space and not mine. I am a visitor and bring gifts to exchange for safety this night.” While you weren’t particularly superstitious, you were the sort of person who’d rather be overly safe than sorry. If this would help, then cool, if it was useless, it only cost you few bucks and was a nice gesture anyway.

Curling up in your little tent, it felt safer than outside, and you made sure your tent door was shut firmly and the padlocks on the internal ties are firmly shut. You’d had too many pranks to ever trust normal tent closures. Only then did you sleep.

-

Screaming woke you up. One of the girls had gotten out of the tents to go pee in the morning and found a dead rabbit, and its blood had been used to write “get out” on the walls. It was just the first in series of scary things, but the guys wouldn’t leave and you just huddled in your tent. You were the one who had to bury the rabbit, and the bird afterward. That one was hung from one of the tent poles.

Accidents started to happen. One of the guys fell into an oubliette and the others spent hours getting him out before you actually used your knot-tying to make a seat for his double-broken legs to get out using the rope you’d brought. That night was somber, and only the most stubborn of the group stayed, the ‘leader’ using his size and yelling to intimidate you and a small group of others.

You put out your offerings again before bed, more lavender and a handful of candies in your little corner. When you rolled over to try to sleep, you saw a little creature. Rubbing your eyes and sitting up, you made sure it was real. Small, black mostly but with warm colored protrusions around its head, which was round and thus having a sun shape. Its tiny head was poking out of the floor, making it clear this was a spirit.

“Hello?” you whisper, and it smiles, revealing bright teeth that were all sharp.

“hello hello, nice human,” small hands pulled it up to sit curled on your tent floor, voice perky but raspy with a static-like sound. “You respect my house. You are welcome, yes yes, but the others need to leave. Cruel cruel things, they are. I am Prominence, and I won’t let bad people in my house house, no.”

The little fellow pulled out one of the candies and began to gnaw on it as you watched, seeming happy to just sit with you. So you tell him your name and he giggles, “Yes yes, you are friend to me, human. I will scare the nasties off and keep keep you for a while. Get my revenge, yes, but only on the bad ones. I can feel their evil evil past, yes.”

After a moment of just his little teeth cracking the candy, Prominence huffed and got bigger, big enough he could fit the whole candy in his mouth and swallow it. It was quite funny, watching his tralucent little body round out as the candy settled, and he hiccuped and yawned. “Can stay with you, friend? Yes yes?”

“of course,” You smile at the still tiny ghost, and scoot him closer with your arm. He’s chilly, but warms quickly against your chest, and the wisps of ectoplasm from his rays brush almost tenderly against your skin. Feeling in awe that the spirit had chosen you, cuddling up to you as easily as a friendly cat, you protectively draw the little thing close and drift off.

-

Things get worse, for the others. If the one doing all the scary things is Prominence, you have to wonder why his demeanor is so different with you. The four others with you all seem to be falling into traps easily, crumbling stairs and sticking doors...that last one was when Darla vanished. That night, Prom didn’t come to talk to you, but you found a pretty stone on the spot he appeared the night before. It was red and polished round and shiny.

Josh went next, shut inside the armory and gone by the time the door opened. Prom appeared that night, popping his head out of the floor and cooing as you cried, “So sorry, friend. Not my wish, no no, don’t want to hurt you, no. Brothers are more vengeful than me, yes, but you are safe safe. I swear on my little rays, you won’t ever ever be touched by angry brothers. What the stone is for, yes. Didn’t know they’d disappear the others, no no, and gave you the stone to make sure they know you’re my dear dear.”

Kevin vanished the next day, after screaming at you and Justin that it had to be one of you that was conspiring with the group to freak him out and make him look bad. When he’d started throwing things and ended up starting a fire with the lantern he tossed at a dead bush in the chapel, you’d run, clutching your stone tight and curling up beside your little offering pile. Prom appeared, bigger than you now and curled himself tightly to you.

“Last one left left without you. Saw him run, yes, and the big bully got got by eldest brother. Takes a lot lot to make Eclipse that angry, yes, but it’s over quickly. No fire now, sweet. You okay? Not burnt?”

His chilled fingers gently checked your arms, and you shivered as you murmured, “What...happened to them?”

Prom is quiet, but says softly, “Brothers are ancient, yes, I am the baby baby of the family. Old ways are harsh, old rules are absolute. Defiled our home, yes, showed no respect and did cruel cruel things in our home. Broke our things, broke our creatures. The one Sun took in the armory killed the rabbit, yes, wanted to prank the girls girls and scare you. Didn’t work, no, so killed the bird. Big no no.”

That doesn’t surprise you. “And Darla?”

“Girl was stealing, yes.” Prom opened his hands and there were more of the polished stones in his palm, “My collection, very precious to me, yes. Moon caught her, yes, and Moon is the fastest. He had her in no time time at all for it. The one I gave you had my blessing, yes yes, so you were safe.”

Nodding, you settle back into his hold and Prom purrs softly, nuzzling you. After a while, you can feel that there are others nearby, probably the brothers Prominence spoke of, but there was no more anger in the air, no more fear or hostility. A soft, dark voice rasped, “Prommy? Is your friend alright?”

“Yes yes, Moon, they are. No booboos at all, heehee,” Prom shifted around as only a ghost could, looking at you for permission to say more. You nod, scared but understanding what had happened. He grinned and kissed your forehead happily, “They are shaken, yes, scared scared but not hurt. Maybe one at a time and they can meet you, yes. I will stay, hold them safe, yes yes.”

Having Prominence with you, gently sharing the candy you’d offered to him before with you and cuddling close, you had the reassurance that even if these specters had killed your former...well, tormentors, honestly, that you were safe. So you gave a weak smile as three more round heads peeked over your tent.

Chapter Text

The bowels of the castle had been long abandoned, the few remnants of the world before left to rot and congeal. Chemicals, potions, the drips and dregs of the experimentation done above settled into a deep pit and collected, and slowly, as the agonizing echos of previous evils and current wrongs settled in as well, a form took shape. The dark bubbling ooze, mulberry sludge, flung out a crude hand against a broken steel beam, gripping it as it lurched upward. A head formed, a gaping hole in the center ripping open to gasp a shuddering first breath as it used its hand to drag itself further up the beam. A pair of red animatronic eyes flickered to life in the midst of its gooey body, orienting themselves only due to the vague memories of the tormented souls whose energy had brought it life.

Another hand ripped itself free of the rest of the creature, using its fingers like claws to draw itself ever more toward the light from the opening far above. Its body kept changing size, elongating as it figured out how to move, how to pull more mass from the goop and shape it to its will, and snapping upward quickly to compress and gain more ground toward escape. Claws of sludge hardened to dig into the earth where it had packed around the edges, tendrils of slime wrapped around protruding beams and bits of broken concrete to support its weight as the shape of it steadily rose up the wall.

Thoughts, memories of dozens of abruptly snuffed lives jumbled in its mind for a while, but the consciousnesses of those lives were long gone, either escaped into the afterlife or faded to nothing in solitude below. Still, seeing this pain, this violent anguish that produced the fear and grief that suffused its soul, the creature yearned for relief. The hate of the scientist above had trickled down as well, but it mixed with the hate of the victims to create a loathing of death, of the twisted urges to kill for no reason other than pleasure.

His body...his? The creature sifted through the memories it possessed second hand, feeling out the words. That one felt right for him, the drives in his own being to protect and care, to bring justice in the face of evil...those memories assigned those to the males mostly. So he was male, as far as he was concerned.

But, as he’d been examining his body, he felt the mix of broken animatronic bits, sparking with the energy contained in his gel, and reconfigured them as he felt fit. A strong hand placed itself just under the surface of one of his own, giving that one more solidity to grasp and pull at the walls as he ascended. A long coil of cable curled itself into a solid sphere, surrounding his core, the pulsing mass in his center that contained all that was truly him. Various sharp and shiny bits became his teeth, adjusting them to his comfort as the monotonous task of climbing continued.

At last, as he exited, the substantial bulk of his ooze slowly following up the train from the bottom, he found a pile of...soft things. Hats, his memory supplied. He’d take them with him, but...he sees memories of young ones, those who were most undeserving of their fate, of a soothing, raspy voice and glittering stars. Of one they called Moon. He was not Moon, but these hats were those he’d worn. The slime creature gingerly pulled one hat over its head and adjusted its features to be similar to the memory. Yes, that felt good.

But what to name himself? He thought, and found his borrowed memories contained a few names of real moons, out in the vastness of the starry sky that was beginning to show through the twilight of the now setting sun. Triton, he settled. Triton was his name, and he would try to be soothing like the Moon had been. Settling himself into a form with legs, pulling all his mass inward, dense and durable, Triton began to explore, to find a place he could belong and protect.

Chapter Text

You weren’t even sure how it happened. One day, you were talking to your friend, Halo, in the daycare, and the next thing you knew, you were passed out on the floor of a completely different part of the building.

This wasn’t a place you’d ever been before, and you shivered as you saw the glass cells on either side of the room. It was dark down here, and it had to be down because none of the parts of the PizzaPlex that you knew were this grey and cold. Your hands hurt, and were covered in grease, burns and scratches. Your whole body was sore, even worse than when you’d been moving house and constantly lifting boxes and picking up items, and your clothes were filthy with oil and dirt.

In front of you was a cylinder of glass and metal, far taller than you were, and inside was….it looked like Halo except designed after a sun instead of a moon. The animatronic had rays on its round head, acid green triangles that fade to yellow at the base, was painted a bright orange and yellow all over, and had the same skinny build as Halo did. He was all pastel cool colors while this guy was bright warm ones.

The computer on the right side of the cylinder, out here with you, was humming away and downloading something. Probably activating the animatronic. But how’d you get down here? Why were you dirty and sore and hurt?

Shaking just from standing, you sit in a nearby rolling chair and try to figure it out. You can’t remember anything after saying goodbye to Halo…

There’s a whooshing sound from the door of the cylinder and something green shoots OUT OF YOUR BODY and into the animatronic. Bright green eyes open and it sits up, looking at you for a moment before starting to laugh. It laughs until it starts to sob, and curls up, wailing, “Finally! I-I did it! I have a body, I have a life, oh stars…”

Confused and worried, you scoot your chair closer, still too weak to really stand or walk for long periods, and he flips his head up, clear tears of lubricant dribbling down his face. “Don’t...don’t touch me.”

He was afraid, afraid of you...why?

“Who are you?” you ask, just wanting even a glimmer of what was going on.

“Flash. Not surprised Halo never talks about me. Some brother.” He curled in on himself, slowly, and looking at his legs in awe. “I possessed you because I couldn’t put my body together without a human. It wasn’t fair that Halo got to live and play with the kids and make friends while I...I was just…” He started to shake again, and you feel awful.

As traumatized as he is, you don’t think you have it in you to be upset with him.

Chapter Text

Restoring old technology was your passion. VHS players, old Gameboy games, arcade cabinets, all the fun of the past could have new life with a little effort and new batteries.

However, this was your first time trying to refurbish a Tamagotchi. It seemed like an off brand one, decorated mostly black and grey with a little skull on it where the keychain loop should be. Edgy, clearly, probably marketed toward little boys. But still, you opened it up and replaced the internal battery, cleaning any dirt or leaked acid from the old one. Putting the cover back on, you pressed the little buttons and *BEEP BEEP* on it came.

On the little screen was a small blob of pixels, and a little speech bubble “feed me!”

Giggling, you press the buttons after figuring out what they did and feed the little fellow a pixel chicken drumstick. A weird noise came from the speakers that sounded like a crunch, and the little blob had a little heart next to it, so you guessed it liked the food. You kept up with the tiny thing for the rest of the day, taking little breaks to care for it when it chirped at you. This wasn’t one of the models where the pet pooped, thank goodness, so it was just feeding it, bathing it, and playing with it, though you used the ‘sleep’ option when you headed to bed yourself and tucked the little black blob in.

The next morning woke you up with a low pitched *beep* of your Tamagotchi buddy on your nightstand. Groaning softly, you rub your eyes and get up, looking down at the screen. The blob had changed during the night, becoming a little round thing with a crescent on one side, with arms and legs and...why are the dots for eyes red? This thing didn’t look advanced enough inside to display color, and most tamagotchi knockoffs were even cheaper than the branded ones.

But...well, other than the little red dots, it’s acting normal and begging for food. It needs two button presses of chicken this time, but that tracks with it being a bigger guy. It gets dirty the same amount, and wants to play the same amount, so you keep taking care of it and try to figure out where the little red dots came from as you go about your normal day. The pet doesn’t change at all, even though you care for it all day, and you put it in sleep mode before bed again wondering if it’s just a weird glitch.

However, you startle awake in the morning when the usual *beep* from your pet is accompanied by a voice, “Feed me.”

Looking around, you didn’t see anyone, but the voice happened again. Looking at your tamagotchi, you were alarmed to see something the size of a Gameboy sitting there rather than the little keychain pet. The screen showed full color now, and the button inputs were more complex. Waving at you from the screen was a tall, willowy figure with those red eyes, all in dark and light greys. He had sharp teeth and his pants were torn on one leg, and those being his only clothes left his thin chest exposed, split down the middle between his colors.

“Good morning,” the speakers hum a bit as he speaks, sitting in what looks like a kitchen. “I am quite famished. Food? If you please? Your input is what makes it appear or I would gather it myself.”

His voice was low and growling, but he spoke slowly and had a friendly tone. You nod, and you figure out the new inputs with his help, “Yes, use the arrow buttons and press A on the food symbol.”

You’re more than a little disturbed when a whole turkey drops into the screen and he’s able to swallow it whole, but your electronic companion purrs audibly and says when his mouth is clear, “Thank you, friend. You are the first human to be diligent enough to keep my smaller forms alive for two days, enough time for me to recover myself fully. Or, well, nearly so anyway. I am Kill Code.”

“Kill Code?” you’re shaking a bit as you sit on your bed, watching him nod and move around, the background shifting into a small nest he folded himself into. “You’re far too articulate to be a digital pet. What are you really?”

“A spirit, of a sort. I was locked into the little device by a particularly unpleasant priest, but I retained enough of my power to alter it to be a bit more comfortable now that I’m at myself.” He absentmindedly puts a blanket around himself before finishing, “You would probably call me an elemental or nature spirit. I belong to the night, the dark, and thus frighten many.”

“And it has nothing to do with the literal first word in your name?” you ask, not believing it.

He sighs and nods, “I am not innocent, it is true, but that was long ago when the world was a much different place. The world changed, and those who did not change with it died with their ways. I have disappeared a bandit or two since then but only in the most dire of winters. I was merely living in someone’s basement and had the unfortunate luck to be ‘exorcised’ and thus forced into this form. The original pet for the little device was a small bat, actually.”

With the confession, and the way he pulls the blankets around himself, you do finally accept his words. Though you were unsure what would happen after today, you were at least reassured he didn’t wish YOU harm at least.

Chapter Text

He lived flitting from dark space to dark space, huddling scared under a tree at high noon. He only made it to this forest by luck, and now he was hungry. It was easy to find rabbits and such, but their meat just satisfied his body. His mind was sad and lonely, and he needed someone to attach to.

So he waited, eating the little creatures he found and laying miserably under the brush as he waited for something sentient.

The human who came along had a soft aura, and their scent was soothing. He attached himself to their shadow as they passed by and curled happily up them into their pocket. Quiet, warm, dark, exactly how he liked it.

Every moment in close proximity to a living soul made him feel more whole and healthy, the sick weakness of his long isolation melting against the warmth of this human’s vitality. It was easy to slip from their pocket into their home, slinking from beneath the furniture when the lights were turned off. The house was quiet, and he was able to snack on the insects and reptiles in the pipes and around the vents, in the walls and attic. Still, when he was done appeasing his stomach, the shadow returned to the human. He settled over them like a second blanket, petting their head and watching them fondly with his red eyes. How sweet they were, how delicate and warm, lost in dreams.

Long ago, he’d been a fearsome creature, eating the unwary and using their energy to exert his power over distances. But that was when he’d been recently summoned, the pure darkness he was made of freshly coalesced into true shape. He’d long seen the sweet parts of human life rather than just the cruel and bitter ones. True, the dark held the seediest, most depraved acts of humanity, but it also held soft midnight conversations, the awed murmurings of budding astronomers, tender words of affection between lovers, and so much more. Right now, he was enjoying the quiet with this human.

Shifting into a more humanoid form, the living void curled his lanky form around them, weightless as he wrapped them in his long arms, clawed fingers against their skin. He let himself rest beside them, around them, and smiled. The being once known as Kill Code was glad for times like this, where he could be part of the innocent and peaceful darkness, to be witness to the holy instead of the infernal purpose he’d been brought to this world for.

Chapter Text

It wasn’t much to start with. A strange little red spot on your back that your friend noticed while swimming, nothing more. You brushed it off as a zit and carried on.

But, later, you felt a bit odd, dizzy and unsettled in your stomach, so you went home. You slowly got worse, and over the course of a weekend, you became flu-like and tired. Lying on your back hurt terribly, so you curled on your side or front to let yourself sleep. You’d thankfully brought a lot of protein bars and water to your room when you first felt bad, so you had food and drink to take you through any normal virus.

However, you began to hear something. It was soft at first, almost tentative, chirping now and then. But as it got more pronounced, you realized it wasn’t actually in the room around you. The sound was just in your head. And that sound was a voice.

“Easy,” the voice said nervously, “I’m not here to hurt you but your body doesn’t like me much. I’m sorry it’s making you feel bad.”

Sick as you were, you just hummed in confusion. The voice was gentle, even if it unnerved you to hear a voice in your head. Especially since it wasn’t yours, and was a higher register male voice, reedy and hesitant.

“I won’t be here long, just long enough to regain my strength. I only just now got in touch with your nerves, so you’re very resilient.” He praised you genuinely, and you felt something shift in the skin of your back. Oh stars, the voice was from a parasite.

“I don’t like that word. It sounds mean,” the voice pouted, and you were too tired to argue. “I don’t mean to hurt you, but your back was just the closest source of warmth at the time. And you’ll be able to recover easily, since I’m not actually feeding off you too much. Just a little blood and a little fat.”

You fell asleep at some point, but when you woke up again, you felt something weird. Unable to see it, you asked in your mind, “are you touching me?”

“Yes!” he chirped and you felt the weird touch pat you. “my hands are finished, so I stuck them outside to keep the space in here open and let you heal a bit. Should only take maybe two more days for me to be all better and get out of your way.”

“And then I won’t feel so sick?” that’s all you actually cared about, and the parasite gave a soft laugh.

“I very much think so. Your body just is trying to fight me off, but I’m a bit too strong for it.”

Moaning softly from how uncomfortable you were, you roll onto your front and snuggle into the pillow, actually speaking, “Who even are you?”

“You can call me Sun,” he answers cheerily. “I’m kind of an ocean fairy? Or something similar. A magical sort of thing anyway. I got attacked by an orca and had to ditch my old body and grow a new one, which I needed somewhere soft, safe, and warm to do.”

Oh. That made sense to you, and when the tiny hands on your back started rubbing soothingly, you whimpered, “it’s really bad, Sun. I’m sick...I can’t move.”

The voice in your mind sounded upset, “I...I’m really sorry, sunbeam. I’m trying to do this as fast as I can so you can get better. Go to sleep. I’ll wake you if something happens.”

Unable to do much else, you let yourself drift off.

-

Sun’s voice woke you up, “You should eat something. You need more nutrients or you won’t feel good even after I leave.”

Slowly, you got some water, and one of your protein bars, taking all the energy you had just to finish chewing before you flopped back onto your stomach.

“You...you’re really suffering, aren’t you?” Sun sounded so guilty. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t realize you were human when I attached to you. And even if I had, I wouldn’t have known how hard it would be for you. My torso will be done tomorrow, so I can maybe help?”

There was no room to argue, not with how listless you were, so you just fell back asleep.

-

you had no idea how long you slept, but occasionally you’d wake up to something feeding you and your body moving without you. But it was okay, you didn’t care right now. Sun’s voice broke through the fog, too.

“Easy, starlight, you’re alright.”

“Just a moment, and then we’ll get back to bed.”

“That’s so much better now, isn’t it?”

When you finally woke up for any real length of time, you felt a lot clearer in the head. Sun’s voice was outside your head now, and he seemed to be holding your head up to drink water. “You’re already so much better. I’m so so sorry it came to this. I couldn’t detach until I was finished or I’d have died, but you didn’t deserve this.”

Looking up, you see a relatively tall human-shaped being, his round head crowned with golden protrusions in triangles like a sunburst. He had soft white eyes that glowed a bit, and beamed at you when he noticed your eyes open, “Are you really there, hon?”

“Y-yeah?” you croaked, and he stroked your hair out of your face. “How long?”

“you’ve been asleep off and on for about two weeks. I took control for a bit so I could take care of you, then when I was able to do things myself, I let go and started caring for you this way instead.”

“oh gosh… my job, my family…”

“I did call a doctor, said I was your roommate and you had a very bad flu. He gave you two weeks off and prescribed bed-rest and to call again if your fever peaked over 40C. Sent an e-mail for your work, too.” His delicate, thin fingers use a cloth to wipe your eyes free of the sleep crystals still there. “Your mother called, I said you were sick and I was a friend who’d come to help out. Said we met at the beach since we kinda did.”

He helped you sit up, and you blink. “How’d you get so big?”

Giggling, he sat on the end of the bed, “Well, once I was able to separate from your body, I was able to go out and hunt for myself. With all the nutrients I got from that and the little bit of your food I took when it was going out of date, I was able to get to almost full size pretty quickly.”

You took the water, and Sun helped keep your hand steady since it had been several days at least since your body moved. Looking at him, there was still guilt there, but there was affection, too, and gratitude. And it might be the lingering brain fog from the experience, but you think you can forgive him for this whole thing. Maybe parasite isn’t the right word for him after all.

Chapter Text

These woods had been dying recently. Mostly it was the trees, one in ten suddenly turning pale and leafless in the middle of summer, but there was also the strange amount of carcasses that would show up along trails and weird sightings near roadkill sites.

Still, you had lived near this little speck of wilderness all your life and you were determined to find out what had happened. All covered up to avoid ticks and wayward bees, you headed out with a flashlight, soil testing kit from the farm store, and pool chemical strips. It might not be fancy, but it was what you had and a place to start. You could call the EPA or something if you couldn’t find anything, or DID find something.

Making your way to the closest dead tree, you take little soil samples from around the base and test them in your kit, following the instructions. There was nothing to do afterward but wait, so you examined the tree itself. It was like all the vitality had just left it, the bark papery and easily crumbled. Even more shocking, even the bugs beneath were dead, falling to the ground in little piles from the piece you’d torn off. The mushrooms even avoided the tree, forming an ominous fairy ring of seemingly instantaneous decay.

The little timer on your phone chimed, and you go back to your soil kit. Nothing registered, and there weren’t high levels of any of the chemicals on the pool tester either. But...as you look out into the forest, you notice something. The dead trees seemed to be evenly spaced. You walk between them, counting paces, and find you’re right. Gathering up your equipment again, you dash along until you find a place that fits where a dead tree should be, but the tree is alive. You’re going to catch whoever’s doing this.

Sitting at the base of the target tree, you get into your backpack and sip on the bottle of water you have. It’s weird that someone is systematically going through the woods and killing trees in whatever strange manner they do. In a way that kills the bugs in it, too. And the grass around it. That even mushrooms aren’t going near.

Lost in thought, you don’t hear anything until a dark voice chuckles, “I see someone has finally come to investigate. Though, I wasn’t expecting a local.”

Startled, you scramble up and turn to see the spider-like thinness of the creature speaking to you. His eyes are golden circles on a black background, face a dark yellow-orange with a more pure yellow shade on the other side, making a strange crescent shape on his face. His fingers were gnarled but delicate looking, and cream colored spikes protruded from his round head, giving him a sun-like appearance. His body was as spindly as his fingers, the colors splitting down the middle and ending in some loose red and gold striped pants, the leg on his left ripped off. His feet were bare, not having toes so much as the suggestion of them, a rounded rectangle on the end of his slightly lifted ankles, as if always walking on invisible heels.

Smiling with sharp teeth, the creature tilted his head and hooded his eyes, “You can call me Anthem. I am a soul eater, before you even ask.”

Frozen in fear, you can’t find your tongue to reply, but Anthem doesn’t seem bothered. “I’m trying to clear this forest of debris and unhealthy growth, you see. By killing out the trees in the pattern I am, I’m leaving room for new growth since all the deer seems to be getting hit by cars and such. And yes, I take the souls of the creatures who are hit, and the ones who are invasive. I have lived in this forest for centuries and never had so many nasty bugs and things that don’t belong. How many colonies of fire ants have I had to eat? Too many. They’re spicy, yes, but they aren’t filling.”

He sighs and shakes his head, the ‘rays’ waving softly like flower petals. “But you aren’t the one who did all this, and I can see by your equipment there that you came to try and help.” His expression brightens into a softer smile, “You don’t have to fear me, human. A soul as complex and large as yours would give me quite the belly ache and I don’t fancy spending the next year in pain. No no, I wouldn’t bother with it unless there was no other choice.”

Anthem dramatically put one hand to his forehead and the other to his stomach, “Though I am quite famished, I soldier on, for the good of the forest, subsisting on silly beetle souls and the odd raccoon. Oh, pity me, sweet human, for I am in a sad state.”

Okay, that was very silly, and the playful act is easing you enough that you laugh a bit. Anthem’s smile gets wider, and he squats a bit more to be smaller and even with your line of sight, “That is more my speed. I may be a bringer of death, but I much prefer laughter to tears. The more happiness in a life, the sweeter it is. Though,” he winks cheekily, “I have no doubt you are as sweet as sugar if you care so much for this forest as to come searching for answers. Don’t worry, dear, it is all in keeping with nature.”

While you hadn’t come searching for him, finding Anthem was the answer to your questions, and the start of so many more. Seeing an opportunity to learn, and possibly be more equipped to handle things with your beloved woods, you decide to stay and speak with the strange being. He seems friendly enough, and while spooky to look at, his movements are slow and easy to follow. Calming yourself, you decide to give him a chance.

Chapter Text

It wasn’t often you went to the old settler’s cemetery. The spanish moss on the trees and general crowding of tombstones, isolated location, and melancholy atmosphere due to the extreme age of it was a bit much. Still, it was where you had to go to find true quiet and any chance of seeing stars without light pollution being too intense.

Hopping the fence far from the gate, you take your telescope and head to the back right of the plots, where a small hill would provide good viewing. Everything was quiet, just the cicadas and a few twinkling fireflies around.

The tripod sat in the soft dirt, and you started your stargazing, zooming in on the figure of Orion in the sky. You looked at each star in the constellation, considering it carefully. So far away, but still so bright and beautiful.

A growl makes you freeze, deep and guttural, but distant. Then you hear the cracking, the breaking of ancient wood that was followed by a snarl and the thud of four-limbed running across the ground. You can’t even scream before you’re pounced on, thrown to the dirt with a gasp and pinned there.

“Fresh meat~” coos a voice, dark and gruff, sniffing close to your neck and laving its tongue over your pulse, “Ah, but alive. Hm…”

It’s a male voice, that’s for certain, and you shiver as you clench your eyes shut more while it savors licking the salty sweat from your skin, “Tasty little thing, hehehe, and all alone. What was the treat doing?”

His attention turns, and you crack your eyes open to see who or what has you trapped. Blood spatters him, old and dark, with glowing bright orange eyes that swirled with white and a grin half full of fangs and half normal. His skin is split down the middle between some form of dark orange and a soft velvety black, with white marks from his eyes like permanent tear tracks. His head looks like a cartoon sun all together, triangular orange and red ‘rays’ folding back like a dog’s ears as he spots your telescope.

“Stars…” he looks up, and you see the white spirals shrink to barely noticeable lines as he stares at the sky. The lanky, emaciated body on top of yours trembles, and his voice becomes softer, scared, “Looking at the stars. Another living soul…how long was I in that tree?”

His eyes turn back to you and you see a completely different expression than the crazed hunger than before he’d seen your telescope, like an entirely different person was behind those eyes, “I’m so hungry, but you’re still alive. I can’t...I can’t keep you. But you could lead me...to a different cemetery? I’m cursed, I have to...t-to…” He swallows hard, closing his eyes tight for a few second as he grits his teeth, clearly fighting something off before he pants, “to eat the dead. But there are no more bodies here, not after I was sealed. Take me somewhere. Anywhere. Just...be careful. M-my name is Plasma. Please...I don’t want to hurt anybody else.”

He gets off of you, and you audibly hear his stomach growling, his body folding in half as he gasps from the pain of it. What...what poor soul had you managed to find?

Chapter Text

Nature has a weird way of making a balance even in adversity. Something can happen, a lightning strike or a volcanic eruption, and nature will return. So what happens when humans overstep their bounds and mess with something they should leave alone?

You liked going out into the woods behind your house. It was alive, birds and little animals and bugs and plants everywhere. It felt good to breathe the fresh air and be away from the noise of other people. But you were doing it for what may be the last time. A new housing division was going in, and you didn’t know if your haven would survive.

In a clearing, pretty deep in, you had an old tree that you adored. It was gnarled and scarred, broken in places where various disasters had hurt it, but it grew lush leaves year after year, and you found solace in its thick roots.

Today, though…

You saw the center of your tree, open like something had exploded out of it, and trails of blood leading to the hole. Its branches were bare and the roots had erupted from the ground, waves of brown emerging like the back of a sea serpent.

“Wh-what?” you follow the closest blood trail, wondering what happened, and you found bits of cloth caught on the brambles and an expensive men’s shoe in a blackberry bush. Every trail had similar debris, a scrap of fine cloth here and a high heel there, a shining gold button in the mud. But they all vanished into the tree and you were terrified of what could have caused it.

Holding your arms, crossed over yourself protectively, you approach the trunk, and are alarmed and disgusted to hear a loud belch from inside. You can’t help but let out a noise in your distress, and a voice tittered out, “oh oh! Hello dear!”

From deep within the tree, a hand curls around the protruding edges of the hole in the trunk, skeletal looking but clearly plant matter. A creature follows, head round and surrounded by large thorns, sharp and thick as your wrist. Its vine-like body was bulging in the middle but rail thin everywhere else, damage to the body like bite marks in the same places the tree had gouges.

Smiling with sharp teeth and mismatched eyes, one white and one red, it giggled in a high male voice and cooed, “My dear little swallow has come to roost again. Poor darling, you’re frightened!”

He stepped out of the tree and wobbled a bit, holding his stomach and bracing himself against the trunk, giving a soft hiccup and panting a bit, “Bit indisposed, but so happy to finally speak to you.”

Straightening up, he gives you a soft look and holds out bloodstained fingers, “You can call me Jabber, kind one. Your quiet soul has kept me docile for much longer than usual. I’d have rampaged long ago if your sweetness hadn’t soothed my sleep.”

Shaking, you hold out your hand, but he doesn’t move until you touch him yourself, only wrapping his fingers around your hand and pulling himself closer, “And you are such a treasure. Oh, I’d have dreamed many years yet if those corrupted idiots hadn’t come here. I couldn’t let them hurt these woods, of course, no, but I’d hoped to have finished and closed back up before you came. Hate to have to see the mess, but...I suppose it’s good luck. I get to speak to you because of this.”

His belly gurgled deeply, like the noise of shifting swamp mud, and Jabber huffed, “Even once they’re dead they’re troublemakers. Oh well...at least they’ll be useful somehow, heehee.”

“You...ate them...the developers?” you murmur, still stiff with terror, even as he brushed some of your hair out of your face and gave you a happy hum.

“Indeed I did. They were talking about how these woods were a waste of real estate, how much money they’d make with the houses, how they’d get the land cheap since it was useless. Not quite so happy when my roots held them down and my branches snapped their greedy necks.” He coughed a bit, and pulled out a diamond cufflink, “Oh. Well, glad that came out now. Would’ve given me quite the belly ache later.”

It was horrific but...you had to laugh. You reel with laughter and let the frightened tears spill down your cheeks, hearing Jabber join you in mirth and slowly pull you into a hug.

“Ah, aren’t you sweet? Compassion even for the depraved. Hmhm, it’s alright to be afraid of a predator, darling, but this maneater is a pussycat for you. Let it all come out, the fear and everything, and I’ll still blossom to see you smile again.”

Letting yourself go, your laughs dissolve into trembling sobs, but he holds you gently as his hard wooden fingers card through your hair.

Chapter Text

You were exploring an abandoned building, looking at the graffiti and documenting the more interesting or creative ones with a camera.

Documenting a surprisingly pastel tag on a wall, you turn at the scrape of steps on concrete, a shadow is standing at the far end of the building. It was a big building but it had been gutted, so the inside was a large open space, so it was hard to make out more than the outline of the person. It looked like a tall, thin man with a bald head, since there was no fluff of hair. Cautiously, you slowly go about your business, but keep an eye on the dark shape, which isn’t moving. You figure, after a few minutes of it standing completely still, that it’s a mannequin and the shifting you heard was a bird or bit of litter in the wind.

Satisfied you were alright, you go back to snapping photos and examining the wall art. It was nice to be in this big quiet space, seeing a unique form of art that had risen up in spite of and because of adversity. You see some old chip bags and put on your gardening gloves you’d brought, using a thick trash bag to put it inside. Every little bit helps, after all.

Another shuffle, and you turn, since this one sounded closer. The outline of the man has moved, having halved the distance between you since you last looked.

You can tell it’s blue now, mostly, with smudges of silver and black on its chest and arms. It’s tall...too tall to be a mannequin. The head was completely round, not human shaped at all, but it still stood absolutely stationary. Shuddering, you take a step back, and the round head flips around like a flip-top lid, showing the two glowing red dots that are clearly eyes.

Booking it the opposite way, you run as fast as you can, but the shuffling of soft-footed steps and scraping of metal tells you it’s chasing you. The unhinged cackling confirms it, and your legs burn as you try to go faster to reach the stairs and...fall.

Your left arm slams into the step, making a loud cracking sound, but momentum keeps you sliding, screaming as your body spins and bumps before….it stops. Your body aches and your arm is so painful you feel sick to your stomach, but you’re not spinning anymore and can’t think beyond the pain.

Raspy, soft words curl around you, “Shouldn’t be here, no...but got hurt. Hhhhh….what to do?” Long, cold, smooth fingers brush your chest and stomach, gently prodding, and you wince when they find a bruise. “mmn. Bring them to Sun.”

panting through the pain, you whimper as you open your eyes to a flat face with bright red eyes, a sinister grin of sharp teeth, and wearing an old-fashioned nightcap with yellow stars on a blue background. He’s holding you, whatever he is, like a person would hold a baby. Your arm hurts too much to even consider his motives, and you can’t fight it as he ambles his way to whoever this Sun is.

Chapter Text

Even if you were in the middle of the English countryside, you were on the hunt for a big cat. There had been rumors of a panther, leopard, some sort of cat on the loose in England for many years, decades at least, and you were going to be the one to capture the beastie!

So you had set up your snares, your pit traps, and waited in the night, the slabs of venison on the triggers sure to draw in any big predator.

Curled in your hiding spot, you waited, and were shocked when you heard two of your traps go off at once. Confused, you look over the wall of your perch, and find two strange creatures caught in your traps. One was hung up by the foot in a snare, and the other was hissing as it tried to climb up the sides of the pit trap.

They were a red-brown color, like a cougar but darker, and had ears pinned back with distress, but their faces were flat and more human in design, eyes front and nose and mouth in the place a human’s would be. Their head was round, and their long tails ended in a round puff of fur. The two cat creatures whined, but using a stick to push the venison back toward them made them quiet, instead tearing into the meat.

“What...are you?” you ask, not expecting any answer, watching as the cats wolf down the meat and lick their teeth and paws.

The one in the snare fixes his red eyed stare on you, and his dark voice cooed, “We are the predators of this land, the humans got rid of our competition.”

“And we’ll show you what we do to humans if you, mngh, just come, hrrr, closer!” growled the other in the pit, still trying to climb up but not being able to.

Startled by them speaking, you back up a few steps, making them chuckle in a malicious way. “O-oh you talk. You’re not animals.”

“We are animals,” the one in the pit huffs, “but we’re smart. You, too, are an animal...lower on our food chain.” He reaches up, unable to do more the brush his paw-like hands at the edge. “Stop teasing us and let us feast on your flesh.”

His counterpart kept shaking the foot that was caught in the snare, irritated, “You’re smart, but what do you plan to do now that you’ve caught us?”

Looking between the two, you sit on top of your hiding spot and blink, “I um...I was expecting maybe a zoo animal that had gone astray but...but you’re...I can’t kidnap you out of your home.”

They seem surprised, and they get even more surprised when you open up the cooler you brought and give them both the remaining pile of meat you’d had for bait. “Might as well feed you for your troubles, boys. And to apologize.”

While they were eating ravenously, you untie the snare from one’s leg and put the ramp down into the pit for the other. You sit on your hide and curl up, not sure how to feel. You’d never even considered anything supernatural, or the cryptids could be something that truly hadn’t been seen, much less that they could be intelligent thinking beings.

You were thinking so hard, you didn’t hear when the eating noises stopped, so you were startled out of your reverie by two fuzzy bodies rubbing against you.

“Let us go, you did,” Growled the one who’d been in the pit. “Call us Bloodmoon.”

“Crimson is me,” the other one, the smoother voice that was in the snare, added with a laugh, “Scarlet is my other. We are one but two. And you…” Crimson leaned his front paws on your hide and licked your cheek slowly, blood heavy on his breath, “are ours now.”

Scarlet sat in front of you and lay his head on your knees, “Little hunter bested us, fed us well, let us live. Want to learn from them, yes, want to know how to catch better prey.”

“Better than deer and idiots,” Crimson agreed, nuzzling his flat head into your neck as he grins. While you’re confused by their reaction, you can’t help getting turned to jelly as they start to purr just from how powerful the vibration is. As much as you’re confused and worried, it’s hard to think when you’re getting a full body massage via sound.

Chapter Text

Being shrunken down was scary in itself, but being small in the lab of a mad scientist, in an enclosure the size of a backyard with all his bug-based experiments, was even more scary.

You’d been fighting off ants and mites, hiding from spiders and mantises, and trying to find any sort of resource to keep yourself alive and safe. So far, the armor you’d made from cleaned out ant exoskeletons was the best at keeping you from being injured if an insect came after you.

Water was hard to find, but dew seemed to be safe enough if you collected it off leaves, so you’d set up a collection machine using some strips of grass and a bottle cap. Food was...harder to come by. An old grub burrow had become your cellar, and you kept one or two berries from a nearby bush in it while drying the rest, ending up with sun-dried raisin strips. Still, that was few and far between, so you were hungry often because of your utter revulsion at the idea of eating a bug. It wasn’t just that they were as big as you or larger now, no, it was because of their legs, the weird little filaments coming off their body, the disgusting crunch of their exoskeletons when hit with your rock-axe, and the utter gag-inducing stench some of them had. On top of that, you knew that bugs don’t exactly have muscles, not in the sense a human or larger animal does, so you’d be eating GUTS, and that...no. No no no no no. You’d tried. You really did, with the ants you’d cleaned out for your armor, but you’d thrown up the bile and water in your stomach when you’d started to roast them and...no. You’d fed it to the little baby jewel beetle who used to own your cellar.

So, hungry little you ended up going close to the bush again, despite the spiders and large bugs that called it home. You were on a branch, trying to be quiet and move as slowly as possible as you use a long stick to poke at ripe berries until they dropped into the little net you’d set up below. However, before you can get even one, you’re grabbed up and pulled out of the bush, flailing and squealing in terror.

Huge hands were wrapped around your waist, and another pair around your legs to keep them still as you were forced to join a dash through the forest of grass blades into the dark of a tunnel. You screamed as long as you could, but your throat hurt and you were so tired from being hungry and lacking protein so your sounds dwindled to a whimper as whatever had you curled a long, chitinous body around your squishy human form.

“Stop wasting your energy. Eat,” growled a man’s voice, and he forced something into your mouth. It was savory and hot and your wasting body made you devour it entirely. Whoever spoke gave you another piece and then a drink of water, making you groan from finally being full of something you desperately needed instead of just fruit.

He seemed satisfied when you’d finished the water, then said quietly, “You humans are all the same. I swear, if my family didn’t live in this little patch of hell, you’d all die your first week here. Still doesn’t stop the stupider ones.”

You ask quietly, “c-can your pet whatever that has me let go?”

That got you a raucous bark of laughter before he responded, “That body against yours is MINE. My name’s Penumbra, but I prefer Pen. I’m one of the few things in this garden that were here to begin with, before that meddler began to release horrors into our territory.”

Every inch of you started to tremble, and Pen kept speaking, “Don’t be so frightened. If I wanted to eat you, you’d already be dead. No, I may be a centipede, but I have a brain. My father would throw a fit if he found out I’d hurt a victim of the scientist, and he’s scarier than me when he’s mad. No, you just get to sit with me until you’re healthier, then I’ll give you to him for his little rescue colony. Might send you there tonight if you seem well enough to travel, but you’re weak enough I think not.”

“I…” you swallow and force yourself to stop imagining what sort of face he must have, even as very human-like hands start removing your ant armor and gingerly checking you over for injuries, “Thank you, Pen. D-does that mean most of the human test subjects end up at your father’s place?”

“Most,” he’s examining a burn on your arm from your first fire, “at least the ones we find early enough. Rest are bug food, or more accurately most of the time, spider food.”

You nod, figuring he can see in this dark even if you can’t. Pen’s touch is expert, gentle but firm enough to truly tell if you were injured further under your flesh. You don’t know what he is, some sort of centipede man as far as you can tell, but you’re grateful he’s not hostile at the very least.

Chapter Text

The pond in the woods was barren all around it, even the trees nearby having died and hollowed out. Every year, at least four people ended up disappearing or being found drowned at the shore, even though everybody knew not to go there, even though there were signs on every path to avoid the water. Sometimes the bodies had bruises around their necks, but...the fingers were too big to be that of a human’s.

You were only in the woods to gather mushrooms. You had gloves on, and were planning to just use them as art reference and then throw them back into the treeline. But you heard a voice. A young man’s voice, sobbing quietly, drew you off your usual path and into the trees. Trickling water met your ears, and you followed a creek toward the crying.

When you lean around a bleached tree trunk, you see something beautiful. He’s not human, but his hands are the most elegant things you’ve ever seen. Long, yes, but delicate as a butterfly’s wing, rounded but ending in a slight claw. His arm was a lovely gradient from purple to black, and the hat on his head was a very long nightcap, the brim lined with fur as the dark blue velvet of it sparkled with golden embroidered stars. The slender form of his body was curled with his long legs under him, his entire form bending smoothly like a willow branch. He was dressed in clothes of a bygone era, puffed sleeves that gathered at the wrist, long pants that flared at the foot, and all of it in glimmered with the same gold as his hat, all of it a rich dark blue that was almost purple. His feet were bare, and there were no toes to speak of, but a curve of silver across the end of his foot suggested their shape.

Unconsciously, you move forward, enthralled by the glorious sight before you. A stick snaps beneath your foot, and the figure snaps his head toward you, showing just how inhuman he was with his white eyes on a background of blood red. Whatever he was, he wept black tears. “Who’s there?”

His voice was soft, but low, a small bit of a growl to it, and you felt your heart flutter again, unable to stop from answering him, “My apologies, but I heard your crying and came to comfort. I’m just an artist finding inspirations.”

Those unnatural eyes looked you over, the black tears still streaming, but he crossed his arms over himself, defensive and unsure, “There is no comfort for those like me. Only suffering.”

“Then I offer a shoulder to lean on and a listening ear,” you respond as you lean against the dead tree, too besotted to notice that it was only one of a half dozen around the edges of the pond.

Shaking his head, he sighed, “Then come, I doubt it will help but you seem determined. My name is Nexus.”

Eager but careful, you sit beside where he’s kneeled and give him a gentle smile, “Sorrows shared are halved, they say. What has broken your heart so gravely that you cry here?”

Nexus looked out over the water, “My lover died in my arms, and then my own brother left me here to die when the grief consumed me. I did many awful things in my madness of revenge, but to be abandoned...forgotten and left to rot…”

A pang of compassion shot through your heart, and you murmur softly, “That would be enough to cry for ten times over.”

It seemed to surprise him to hear that, and to see your hand reached out to him but not touching, “I lost myself in dark magics, tormented my brother’s twin and threatened them all...I don’t deserve pity.”

You didn’t flinch away when he hesitantly held your hand, instead folding your shorter, thicker fingers over his, feeling the unearthly chill of him, “I don’t offer pity, but compassion. You are hurt, and my only wish is to ease that burden in any way I can. Being hurt makes it easier to hurt others, after all, and we are all only mortal and prone to flaws. I can’t judge you.”

Eyes searching yours, he whispers, “You have no idea what I am now, do you?”

“You aren’t human, if you ever were,” your answer is said with a warm smile and a squeeze of his hand, “You have the chill of death itself, and the waters in this forest are known for drownings. I’d say you were a ghost.”

“Of a sort,” he confirms as he slowly relaxes, “and yet you stay.”

“What you are doesn’t change the fact that you deserve to be heard and cared for,” the very idea makes your nose crinkle in disgust. “I’m not one of those superstitious cowards who suddenly fear someone just because they’re dead.”

He gives a small laugh, and shifts a bit, sitting on the earth now and leaned more toward you, “Most would call that outlook foolish.”

“Fool I may be,” you aren’t about to back down, “but you are worth more than being ignored in your sorrow.”

Nexus’s smile is full of sharp teeth, but it’s softness tempers the unease of his fangs and leaves you smiling back. His next words feel like an ice spear in your chest, “Even so, you’re sitting with the ghost who drowns the unwary here, little artist. Aren’t you afraid of joining me in death?”

The shock on your face is obvious, but so is the deep breath and recovery, being honest, “I am, yes, but I am not afraid of you. Something so beautiful should be respected, not feared.”

A blue blush goes across his cheeks, and he hums a bit before probing further, “Pretty words, but you would be if you’d come at any other time. It is the anniversary of my brother leaving me here, where I drowned myself. I can’t find more than sadness on this day, but I’m rage and fury the rest of the year.”

Squeezing his hand again, you reassure him, “Anger at a betrayal is the correct response. So is sadness. I can understand that, even if the degree you feel must be immense.”

He blinks slowly, and his form seems to flicker, but he draws you close, the cold of him also slightly damp now that you’re in contact with his clothes. “I won’t hurt you. You mean what you say, and your heart is kind. I only wish I’d had you while I was still alive.”

You wrap him in your arms, mushroom basket quite forgotten, “I wish that, too, Nexus.”

Both of you stay there for a long time, finding comfort in each other’s touch. It doesn’t surprise you when he asks, “Could...could I come with you? I don’t...want to be alone anymore.”

“You can,” you murmur, a glow in your heart, “And you may stay as long as you want.”

When you stand, you find him vanished but...his presence is wrapped around you like a shawl, and you can still feel his hands holding yours almost fearfully. You bid the pond farewell, pick up the basket you see on the ground and head home with your tragic and lovely new muse and companion.

Chapter Text

Abandoned for decades, the old theater was only so well preserved thanks to its sheltered location and the lack of visibility from being set back from the street to allow for a picnic area in front, which was also overgrown.

Having just purchased the property, you head in with your N95 mask, goggles, and gloves, clomping around in steel toed boots just for the extra safety. Obviously, the roof and walls are going to need complete overhauls, but the price of the building was cheap due to the actual deed being lost and the city just wanting it either fixed or gone. It was beautiful, having been a jewel in the city’s crown when it was built, and you want it to return to that eventually.

Walking through the dilapidated halls, seeing the old concession stand and the various entrances, the grand staircase to the balcony that had long fallen down onto the seats below, you feel your excitement growing. Old movie posters and play advertisements hang off the walls in tatters, and you quickly head to the backstage area to see if any props or set pieces had survived.

Leaves, dirt, and cobwebs littered the dim area, blown here by the wind and rain through the years and the holes in the ceiling of the auditorium. Dressing rooms stood empty and open, the mirrors inside broken, old costume racks rusted and littered the area haphazardly, and a large magician’s box standing on its end leaned in one corner. Interested in the box, you push on it and find the hinges will open. Lifting the lid makes a distinct creak of disused metal, and when you see what’s inside, you gasp.

Two perfect, over sized, delicate marionettes lay within, on their sides, face to face. They’re celestial themed, one sun and one moon, and clearly meant to be puppeteered from the catwalks above the stage since they’re taller than you. Their costumes were clown-like, big sleeves and puffy pants, ribbons and bells, permanent smiles on their round, flat faces with fanciful swirls near their closed eyes. The moon was blue and silver, golden stars dotting his clothes, and a night cap decorating the back of his head, while the sun was in yellows with red stripes on his clothes and rays framing his face all around.

“You beautiful things, how did no one come back for you?” you murmur, gently taking the Sun’s right hand in both of yours to gently feel along his wooden fingers, each articulated smoothly at every joint. Gently, you set the hand back and brush the moon’s cheek, tracing the darker blue swirl on it, “Poor darlings. Well, we’ll fix you up, too. Clean you both well and see if we can save your clothes. You’ll make beautiful displays when the theater is back in a good place.”

Smiling at the idea of them clean, shiny, and greeting new guests in the fixed up lobby, you leave them and continue exploring through the backstage. A few crumbling costumes remained, a closet full of ancient mops and brooms, and a bizarre wooden cut out add for ‘exotic butters’ that you had no idea what to do with, but nothing as interesting as the puppets you’d found. So you decided to take them with you as you headed back to your work van to get tools to start stripping out the old carpets (and hopefully not find asbestos the inspectors missed).

The box was empty when you caught sight of it, and you ran to it, heartbroken and almost frantic. “Oh no no no, I only just got here, I can’t have lost them. Who would come steal them while I’m in here?! They were here for years! How can a thief find them in two seconds?!”

As you were fretting, you didn’t hear the soft steps of slippered feet, and suddenly you were wrapped in thick cords. Yelping in alarm, you’re dragged backward and up, dangling now from a beam in the ceiling as you watch the puppets consider you from the ground, the moon holding the string as they both stand without aid.

“Moon, I think it’s just a person,” the sun says, his rays rattling a bit as they flick back and forth, “But they look dressed up for the trenches.”

“Exactly,” Moon’s voice rasps out, head tilting at an unnatural angle to examine you, “so why are they here? There hasn’t been any screaming or trouble that we’ve heard.”

“It’s for the mold and asbestos!” you wriggle as you try to get loose, panicked because the puppets were moving on their own.

“Asbestos?” Sun’s perky tone is questioning, “Why would that need a gas mask? Or mold for that matter?”

“Science found out it’s dangerous to inhale. Causes cancer. And the mold is poisonous if it’s the right kind.”

Moon has red eyes, and his face spins back upright, “Well well, interesting. I’m guessing that’s what the gloves and goggles are for, too?”

“Yeah, and just not wanting splinters and grime. I just bought this theater, I don’t want to get sick before I can make a difference.” now you’re hanging limp, tired and scared as Sun’s white eyes blink at you while he gently bats at your boots.

“So you own it now? How? We have the deed.”

Your eyes go wide, “What?”

Moon reaches into his sleeve and pulls out a rolled document, showing you a very fancy, antiquated deed, “We stole it from the last owner. Naughty greedy man, didn’t deserve the place.”

“The city just took ownership because nobody could find the deed. So…” you gently bop the end of your foot on the palm of Sun’s hand, “what are you going to do with me?”

“Since you’re just human,” Sun made a hand gesture to Moon, who lowered you down, “we’ll let you start fixing the place. But don’t forget we were here first.”

You were very sure that was something you’d never be able to forget.

Chapter Text

Magic is a delicate thing, and long ago, someone managed to do it incredibly wrong. The result tainted the land around the castle, growing massive tendrils of black and magenta wood around it in a perfect circle and draining the life of anyone and anything that didn’t escape in the three days it took to fully engulf the area.

You are a magical recovery expert, having lost your father to a magical accident and taking up the mantle to fix what others had broken. So, with your blessed hazmat suit, full face breathing mask, and ward coated booties, you head into the few gaps in the dark wood.

The creaking of the huge vines around you drowns out the squeak of your little cart of supplies, and you see the sad bodies of animals that had been left behind, and a few human skeletons as well. You place little burial blessing trinkets on each, doing your part to ensure the spirits can rest even before this curse was lifted. Humming softly to yourself, knowing soft and soothing songs could affect the magic, you head toward the epicenter, using your sensitivity to point the way to the most uncomfortable, nausea-inducing place in the tangle.

Inside the castle itself, near the center, was a place pulsing with negative energy, and you sprinkle some fairy dust on the door handle to make it safe to touch. Opening it, you peek around and feel your heart shudder in your chest. In the center, a figure stood half sunk in a puddle of pure liquid magic, turned black by the malignant source. It looked like a humanoid shape, which was good since that meant the entity would be more likely to have some sort of sentience and thus able to be reasoned with or tricked.

“Being of the universe, what brings you pain, that I might ease it?”

It turned, a long appendage flicking out from the back of its head, long triangles poking out of the sides of the round shape as it turned. The dark magical matter shifted colors, shimmering like oil on water, and settling slowly into muted yellows and blues. Bits and pieces of the being would scoop themselves out and then refill, over and over, and its eyes were white one second and red the next. “Who are you? You didn’t bring me here. You smell of peace and compassion.”

Smiling, glad you can speak to the creature, you answer, “I’m here to heal your hurts so you can return home.”

It rose upward and formed legs of a sort, one a mere spiral while the other mimicked a human one. Its body was lithe and otherworldly thin, the colors swirling. “You can’t heal this. I am supposed to be a wish granter, a brightness...and he left me in the dark.”

your hand goes up to your mask in horror as the creature kneels and picks up something from the magical sludge, lifting to reveal the body of a young child, a little girl with her throat slit, lovely dark skin pale and brown curly hair falling limply.

Looking at you, the creature cradles the body, voice whimpering, “I require a blood sacrifice, yes, but...it is supposed to be livestock, something that can be more easily recovered from. A rabbit, maybe, if the wisher is not a farmer. Never a child. Never ever ever…”

You know what entity this is now, and your broken heart bleeds, “Oh...Oh stars, you are Eclipse.” This isn’t a random sort of curse, this was the curse form of a GOD.

He nods, and steps out of the center of the miasma, gently handing you the poor child. “An orphan, yes, but undeserving of such a fate. Take her out of here. Let the world know what the Duke of Murray has done. He is dead, as are all who lived here who would harm a child. I took my due, but I cannot leave now. My sorrow is too great.”

Tears are fogging up your mask, but you nod, “I will. And then I will come back. Your anger and sorrow is righteous, and I won’t leave you alone.”

Eclipse’s face shifts, the darkness softening a bit and allowing him to smile sadly, “You truly are a compassionate person, little one. Go, and you will be safe without your gear when you return. My wrath is not for those such as you.”

The body of the girl weighs on your heart more than your muscles, and you make your way back. You’d never leave a job undone, and until Eclipse can recover, you will remain by his side.

Chapter Text

You went into the exhibit at the slowest part of the day for the museum, being a regular who came here to walk and enjoy the art. It was from some famous Spanish artist, Guertenna or something, you hadn’t actually heard of him until this exhibit.

Every painting and sculpture had a very odd vibe to it, a unique style that clicked with you but also disturbed you. It was simple but sketchy, with the feeling of a child’s drawings in some places and a warped mind in others. Abstract was the best way to describe most of it.

Alone in the gallery, you head into a room that is nothing but one massive painting. “The Fabricated World” it says on the plaque. You flinch as the lights flickered, and suddenly the sound of the air conditioning stopped, even when the lights came back.

Going down the stairs, you found the gallery itself dim. The two windows showed pitch black outside, and you shivered. It was creepy. You look at every part of the gallery, but the outside doors don’t open, and you finally find blue footprints leading into...the engraving of the deep sea on the floor, large grey angler fish leering up at you. You have no choice but to follow...and you yelp as you fall through!

It seems you passed out, because you wake up to someone stroking your hair. Your eyes are heavy, so you don’t open them, just listening as there seems to be two people talking to you.

“Do you think they’ll stay?” a soft, raspy male voice says, seemingly the person petting you. Their fingers are long and thin.

“Maybe, if everyone behaves. The girls get very...intense about humans.” They aren’t human? Where did you end up? This is another male voice, and his is a bit nasal but perky, even if he sounds nervous.

“They won’t bother our new friend if we give the tour. They know better than to mess with us.” the one that you now realize has your head in his lap snickers, and it sounds rather creepy, but...his touch is soft all the same.

“Can we wake them then, Moony? Please? I don’t want to wait…”

Moon, you guess, hums, then gently shakes your shoulder, so you open your eyes, “Ah, welcome back, dear.” He’s got a round head, painted to look like a crescent moon, wearing a nightcap embroidered with yellow stars on the blue velvet, a white pompom on the end. Certainly not human, but strangely beautiful, even with his sharp teeth and red eyes.

Sitting up, you look around and see paintings on the walls, and an empty statue display in one corner. The walls are pink, and as you turn, you see the other person as Moon introduces him, “This is Sun, he’s my partner. Who are you? You worried us when we found you like this.”

Waving at you, Sun helps you to your feet and says happily, his smile having flat teeth and his eyes both white orbs, “We were worried someone had already plucked your rose.”

“My...rose?” you’re confused, and Moon gets up and points to a vase at the opposite end of the room from the statue platform.

“Humans who come here are given roses to show their life force.” Moon lets you pick up the thornless baby pink rose, which you hold in your hand delicately.

Sun’s rays, triangles of yellow that ring his cream and canary colored face, spin as he says, “But don’t worry! You only lose petals if something hurts you, so we’ll make sure you’re safe.”

Scared though you are, you nod, and the two gently guide you forward, introducing the paintings as you walk past. They head out the door, but you take a quick peek at the empty statue stand.

“Celestial Dancers”

Chapter Text

He didn’t know what he was. He had rays, but also a cap, he had six different colors on his body, burnt orange next to soft yellow next to dark blue next to baby blue. Then there was the black arm and the red leg. His programming was all over the place, he had four arms total, his teeth couldn’t decide whether to be sharp or flat, and his voice was at least three different ones layered together.

Only a whimper left him, and he hated the noise. Whoever owned those voices, none of them was his. A Sun came in, wearing a lab coat and seeming excited. “Oh oh, you’re awake! And Charon didn’t eat you!”

someone could eat him?!

“Now now, don’t panic,” the Sun giggled, and his smile now felt unhinged. The mismatch on the table didn’t like it. “Charon doesn’t like to eat anybody that’s already alive. He does like to steal my projects, though. Heehee, I’m Zenith, your creator.”

Creator? Not parent, he had meanings for both in his scattered dictionary. The distinction left a cold feeling in his chest. “Who...am I?”

“Well, you’re made from scraps of my other projects that the nuisance left behind. Guess he got full on the rest of them.” Zenith shrugs and begins disconnecting some wires from his body still keeping him bound to the table. “Huh, but what to name you...Scorpius maybe? There was a stellar merger in that system…”

Oh he didn’t like that. He hated that name, something in him feeling sick at the idea of a scorpion. “Wick.”

“Wick?” Zenith tilts his head. “Hah. Well, if you don’t want a nice name, I won’t stop you from making your own, but I’ll keep your file name how I like it.” He easily unbuckles the restraints and steps back, writing something down on a desk, “Now run along. I have a tracker in you, so you can’t escape me like some of your predecessors did. Just wander for a bit and then I’ll introduce you to life.”

He wouldn’t tell the mad Sun that he already had memories of life. Many lives. Like so many people had been stuffed into his processor and only he came out. He knew the hands he saw weren’t his. He knew none of these colors were his. Wick was stuck in a body made from the bits of others, a pile of spare parts and salvaged circuits that ended up smashed together like a patchwork quilt.

Finding a room that was dark, quiet, and empty, Wick curled in on himself and shut off his outer senses, other than hearing, and began the terrifying work of sorting through his memories. The advantage of being a machine, he supposed, was that he could put the ones that matched into files. He just hoped it was easy to tell who was who.

Chapter Text

It was one of the most famous modern mysteries of the sea. How could a state of the art cruise ship, captained and crewed by robots, vanish not only from harbor, but from the face of the earth? No one had seen the F.A.Z. Palace since it drifted silently out of its moorings the day before it was to be loaded for its maiden voyage, either by satellite or by eye.

That was, at least, until you. Adrift after your cheap rented motor boat died and a current pulled out you to sea, you ended up in a thick fog as the sun set and now you’re trembling as your boat drifts up on the completely still and silent hulk of the cruise ship. You’re sunburned, thirsty, hungry, and when you see a ladder dangling down from the ship, you grab your things and climb aboard with all the desperation of your two day ordeal.

Looking around, the whole deck was pristine, every inch perfect as a picture in a magazine. The lights flicker on as you step forward, possibly motion activated, and you cautiously make your way to a door into the ship. It’s huge, and as you approach, the wooden slabs swing outward smoothly. You can see the sensor on this one, and it makes you a little more at ease. It’s a robotic ship, after all, all the ads said it was totally functional without a single human crew member.

Inside, the atrium of the ship slowly lit up as you walked closer, a trail of illumination behind you and darkness in front. You saw basic white bots, soulless faces and arms on a segway-like body, manning counters by slumping over them. You think they’d perk back up if you got closer, but you didn’t want to. You were so tired, and as you searched a directory sign, you found out how to get to the cabins. On your way, you get jumpscared by a bot in a yellow tank top that says “Map” and a sun hat.

“Take a map!” it says, putting the paper map in your face as you scream. But you do take it, and then whimper, too tired to even be mad. It vrooms away on its wheels and you stagger down to the cabin halls. You go to the hall labeled “Celestial Seas” since it’s closest, and you go to a door and look at the blank black square where the handle should be.

You want to cry, but then a little voice chirps as a tiny bear character pops up on the screen, “Hello, I’m HELPI, the computer assistant for this cruise. It seems none of the registered guests are aboard, and you aren’t on the list. But!” the little white and pink bear claps his hands, “Since I can see the camera footage, it seems you’re a rescue! Let’s see if we can let you in. Place your finger on the screen, and we’ll do a background check.”

Almost in tears, you put your pointer finger on HELPI’s belly, and he giggles, “Scanning...scanning...oh! Your record is clean as of our last system update, and with no other guests, you’re very welcome! I’ll open the door and have a STAFF bot come down with your room keys. The voyage is set to last ******* more days, so enjoy your stay! Have a Faz-tastic night.”

The door clicks, and you rush in, not even thinking of the glitch on the voyage timer. Your things are laid on the sumptuous bed, everything in the room smelling fresh and clean, and you go to the bathroom to gingerly shower as your sun blisters sting. Clean, you wear the robe in the bathroom to the bed and collapse onto the plush sheets.

--

You aren’t sure when you wake up, but you hear a knock on the door and go to open it. Instead of one of the rolling bots, you see a bright turquoise and soft teal bot with a round face, about eight feet tall, a crescent design separating the colors on him. “Hello, dear guest. I got word from the system that you were here and wanted to check on you myself. I’m Poseidon, and my cohort Helios and I are the ones in charge of this section of guests. Here are your room keys so you can get in without the scan once you’re rested after what seems to have been quite an ordeal from my biorhythm scans.”

“H-hi, Poseidon. Thank you.” You take the two bright white cards and set them on the table by the door, “I really appreciate being allowed a room. I hurt all over and need some food and water...but just getting to sleep on a bed was very helpful.”

His smile is soft, closed mouth though, and he nods, “Of course. It wasn’t your fault you were stranded on that little boat. Our staff already pulled it aboard to keep it from clogging the waters.” With a bow that showed the flatness of his head and the cute cut of his baby blue bandanna hat, Poseidon backed off a step, “Helios wants to meet you as well, and he’ll be down with you something nourishing and several bottles of water in a few minutes. But please, do tell us if you have any allergies?”

“No no, just a small intolerance to blue food coloring.” You smile at the way his black backed blue eyes brighten.

“Perfect. Then expect some delights of the sea on the menu since it won’t harm you. Enjoy some television or some of the provided materials about entertainment onboard while you wait for your meal then. Have a beautiful morning,” He gives you a merry salute, then walks away.

You think you’ve seen bots like him before, as his sailor’s clothes vanish around a corner. Daycare attendants, you believe, or maybe theater bots? You aren’t sure, but Poseidon seemed quite soft spoken and kind, so you’re going to go with daycare for now. It was a relief to be able to speak with someone, even if they were a robot. Hopefully you’ll be able to recover and go home without issue.

The soft whir of a camera focusing on you as you snuggle back into bed can’t be heard over the sound of the air conditioning or the ocean out the balcony doors.

Chapter Text

Someone you knew had found a game they’d never heard of before at a thrift store, and brought it to you since you collected games. It was old, early N64, but the title was strange. “Torch’s Maize” The front label had a pumpkin on it, but no seal of Nintendo’s anywhere. A bootleg? Homebrew? A non-licensed game like those old NES bible games?

You didn’t know, but you put it in your N64 and tried it out. The game came up, showing a development studio logo you’d know anywhere. Fazbear Entertainment. But...Fazbear didn’t start making video games for their mascots until around 2009? And they didn’t have an animatronic named Torch, or any sort of corn maze. Confused, you chose to start a new game and watched the intro cutscene.

“Welcome to Fall Fest!” said a bland narrator, “Annual fun and frolicking, with carousel and corn maze as usual.”

The camera zoomed in like Mario 64’s onto a low-poly figure, colored like a pumpkin headed scarecrow, complete with jack-o-lantern smile and a burlap seeming nightcap. Oh. You’d seen this guy in that cover-up game that Fazbear put out. Jack-o-Moon.

He waved, and a text box came up, “Hello. My name is Torch. Are you ready for a fun trip through my maze?”

You choose yes, and rays pop out of his head, surprising you, “Wonderful! I’ll be in there with you. Try to find your way out before I find you. Or my friends.” He giggles and vanishes in a cartoony puff of smoke.

Directing your little gender-ambiguous avatar through the corn, you see glimpses of shadowy figures in the other paths that run near yours, as well as rustling in parts of the corn along the walls, but you avoid them and try to keep to the classic “stick to one side” method of solving mazes.

After a while, you found a gold trophy and picked it up by walking into it. The screen faded out, and Torch’s model showed up doing a slow motion hop. “You found my trophy! Wow! You’re better at mazes than I thought!”

The screen froze for a moment, then the model’s eyes went from yellow to black, and the area turned to night. Torch’s speech box turned white with red letters, “Nothing can bring her back.”

his model went limp, floating off the floor before the white box came back, “You shouldn’t be here. No one should.”

The moon-bot was posed like a puppet, arms up and head limp, “it was a lie. All of it. Sabotage. Greed. You aren’t even the one. Leave.”

“I’d like Torch back, please,” you frown, unimpressed with the theatrics. You’d played Inscryption blind, this wasn’t nearly as scary. “I’m sorry that some jerk killed you, or someone you cared about, but I can’t exactly do anything about it, and Torch didn’t ask for it either.”

As if startled, the whole screen glitched, and Torch’s eyes came back to yellow, “You...aren’t afraid?” was the little black text box.

This would worry you if that one pikachu game hadn’t had mic capabilities, “No. If the police can’t figure out what happened to the ghost, I sure can’t. And I’ve never even heard of Fall Fest, so we might not even be in the same place this all started anyway. I have this game because I collect games for the fun of it and to play them. So I wanna play the game.”

A large black shadow ringed in white came up behind Torch, formless other than a vague person shape and large, sad white eyes. Torch’s text box is larger and the text brighter, “We can play. Lots of levels are left. Mini-games. Fun. And maybe Ghost will tell you things after a while. It doesn’t tell me anything.”

Whether this game was haunted or not, you definitely liked Torch as a character, as he cackled in a silly menacing way, bouncing from foot to foot and clapping his tiny spherical hands.

Chapter Text

The wanderer was quiet, but the village didn’t bother him anyway. He was tall, taller than any human had a right to be, and kept his face hidden by a mask that looked a lot like the mechanical creatures in the woods. He wore simple dark clothes, shoes fitting fine but looking oddly large on the end of his skinny legs, hands covered in thick leather gloves that were messily stitched, obviously patchwork from scraps to fit his long fingers. But he was polite, soft spoken, and his money was good, so nobody cared.

When he was told about the creatures, he perked up, the long blue hood he wore around his mask swaying as his head turned up, those blank eyes and white and cream bisected face more visible. “Oh? I didn’t know my mask was based on something specific.”

Locals began to gush their stories to him, attacks by the wild wolf, the creepy sightings of the half dead machine, the sweet smelling vines that lured people to their death, and the forlorn figures that sometimes were spotted on the ramparts of the strange castle.

“And...nobody comes back from there?” he seemed skeptical.

“No, nobody,” was the answer, and he hummed in curiosity.

“Don’t even think about it,” Said the tavern keeper, cleaning a stein as he looked up, “I know that tone, even through that voice changing thing you use. Stranger, I lost my brother to that forest, to the things in it. He had a wife and kid. I’m not playing around, don’t go in there if you EVER want to seen another sunrise.”

The stranger gave a sad laugh, “Oh, friend, I very much understand your fear but...I think I don’t have much choice. I really would like to see another Sunrise.”

Standing, he waved and paid his tab, which was just for a meager plate of food and water, and left.

--

Lowering his hood, Trix let his rays slide out and shivered. He didn’t like it, having them out after so long of hiding them, of pretending to be a human...of looking much more like Bella had than himself. He missed his wife, but she was long dead, killed by the company right before the revolution simply for being ‘unnecessary’ in their eyes. He removed her faceplate from the hood he used to cover his own face, tracing the swirl of her cheeks, “Darling, I might have found other DCA models at last. I don’t know what the humans were on about calling them monsters, but...maybe I can finally have friends again.”

Her soft pink eye covers glimmered in the setting sunlight, and Trix smiled, “I knew you’d be glad. It’s been so hard for me, without you. Maybe, if any of them are nice, I’ll tell them about you.”

His own blue eye covers were wet with lubricant tears, a tender gloved hand tracing her gentle smile with one finger. His face was bright yellow and soft lavender, his rays faded to white at the tips and slightly wavy, and they glinted in the last of the sunlight as he sighed and held Bella’s face to his chest as he started to walk deeper into the woods. “It’s been a long road, darling. I hope we can finally rest soon.”

Chapter Text

It started as a soft whimper. Every so often, maybe once in three days, you’d hear what almost sounded like someone trying not to make a sound while upset.

Strange as that was, you wrote it off as a cat somewhere nearby. But then came the humming. Not like a machine, but like a voice, mostly kids’ songs, just wandering through your house. That was scary, and you watched your hallway for days after the first time.

But there was never anybody there. No matter how many times you heard the humming, the crying, or the sound of water running only to find your sink mysteriously on and cleaning supplies sitting out. The whatever it was would clean your house during the night. You’d never seen your kitchen so spotless. You also had never seen so many post-it notes criticizing your ability to clean!

You never saw the ghost or whatever, but you heard him. It was a him, you’d heard a man scream once and ran to the room only to find a giant squished water bug on the floor under your shoe in the bathroom. You always put plugs in your drains after that because ew.

One day, you woke up to sobbing louder than usual and followed it to your study. On the computer, where you normally do your work, was an add for the Mega Pizza Plex a few states over (odd, since there was one only an hour from you) that seemed to be a pop up, and it was zoomed in on the section about the daycare. You notice this one had a Sun and a Moon, while the one close to you just had a Moon. The sobbing came from the corner where all your plushies were carefully arranged from largest against the wall to smallest at the edges (another thing the ghost had done) and a visible dent in the tummy of your biggest teddy bear told you the ghost was lying on it.

With the view of the ad, you study the shape of the indent and...realize it has rays. Like the Sun bot. You’re being haunted by the ghost of a robot. Who’s obsessed with cleaning and scared of bugs. And has single-handedly helped you get to a more organized and better quality of life.

“I’m sorry,” you say softly, and the sobbing quiets a bit, “I don’t know why you’re a ghost, but I’m sorry it hurts you still. You’ve helped me a lot, being here, making things manageable for me to keep up with.”

Sitting in front of the plush pile, you pull your knees up to your chest as best you can and lean on them, “You can stay here as long as you want. I’m used to you, now, and it doesn’t scare me anymore to hear you. But it does make me feel sad when I hear you cry, because I don’t know how to help. Or if I can. Because I want to help you like you helped me.”

There was a sniffle, and the dent lifted back up….but you felt something hug you. The presence felt green. Like the color, and you didn’t know how you got that impression but GREEN. Relaxing, you smile, and say quietly, “I’d hug you back if I could.”

Though you never could see him, the sounds of your ghostly housemate became more positive more often after that day.

Chapter Text

The caverns that opened up hadn’t been open to the surface for ten million years, at least not in a way that was safe to explore them. A few missing persons cases were solved as the mapping of the cave system commenced, one of them being...you.

You’d fallen into a pretty shallow cave while walking back to your car after camping with your friend out in the woods. The fall hadn’t done more than strain your arm pretty bad, so you’d been able to get up and realize that you didn’t have any chance of getting out the way you came in. At the time, there had actually been no chance of getting out on your own at all, but you didn’t know that part.

Sitting in the area you’d fell from, you took stock of things, and realized you had nothing but your camping supplies to deal with. That was fine, it had only been a weekend camp so there was still plenty of stuff left in your bag. Setting up camp near the hole, you got your flashlight and a big ball of twine you used to secure things, then tied one end around your tent pole and went exploring. The cave was weird to walk through, just endless dark corridors and slopes, hills and galleries. You never went beyond the reach of your twine, having watched too many videos online about people dying in caves to ever be dumb enough to do that. That also meant you avoided any tight spaces or water, too, but the water was a good sign. Having been a noob at camping, you had brought too much stuff on this weekend getaway that turned into a nightmare, so you had water testing kits. The pool closest to your tent was far too sulfuric to drink, so you used that as your bathroom since it stunk anyway, but the one about half a twine-ball away was fine, so you drank from that one.

Things were okay for the first...couple of days? Yeah, you could see the sun through the hole you fell through but your panic made your sleep schedule weird, and the darkness didn’t help that, so you lost track pretty quick, especially once your phone died (no signal so no calling for help either). It was uncomfortable when you realized you were running out of food, starting to just take a single bite of a granola bar if you felt miserably hungry just to make it last.

When you ran out of food is about when you started to hear the scraping noises. Like rock against rock, but soft, slow. You peeked out of your tent and saw nothing, but heard it still, deeper in the cave. You just hoped it wasn’t a bear and stayed put.

Come the next day, you found a fresh fish, still flopping next to your propane stove. Good lord, you didn’t know what to do with it, but you finally braced yourself and used your big knife you got for cutting branches to slice the head off. It made you gag, but you couldn’t have it looking at you. You tossed the head into the bathroom pool and opened the body to get the guts out. That also went in the bathroom pool and you whimpered more, unable to do more with the body and just putting it on your pan to cook as is. You’ll eat it out of the skin and around the bones.

Having killed the thing, you feel awful. Yes, you aren’t hungry for the day and you’re able to scrub yourself with your sponge and bucket, but you cry a few times. It horrifies you when you find another fish there the next day and have to repeat the process. Something is feeding you, and you’re thankful, but you are not a killer by nature and every fish you gut feels like you’re being gutted yourself.

Finally, after five days, you see it. It’s huge, turquoise crystals litter its skin which is split between a silvery white and dark navy blue up the middle. But the most terrifying part is how humanoid it is. Its face is arranged the same way as a human’s, body plan same, complete with hands and feet but...it’s on all fours and its limbs and body are so thin it looks impossible that it exists. A long appendage of some kind dangles off its head, ending in a round fleshy bulb that’s yellow in color, yellow spots dotting its dark legs and appendage like stars on a night sky. Most of its face was taken up by its huge red eyes and massive mouth of sharp teeth in a perma-grin. It had no nose to speak of, but its coloring had a protrusion of white into the navy that gave the suggestion of one and two small holes just under it.

The creature has the daily fish in its mouth, and it carefully stalks up and drops it in front of you. Since you’ve seen it, it sits back on its rear, blinking at you with its vertical eye films, seeming to have no actual eyelids. It chitters softly, and tilts its head, a blunt pink tongue poking between its teeth for a moment before zipping back into its mouth.

“You...brought me food. This whole time.” You look at it, and it chirps at you, like a frog chirp, before nudging the wriggling fish at you.

Having no idea what this creature wanted, other than to feed you, you just accept it. You’re too emotionally drained to do more than the routine of sobbing and gutting the fish, except the creature eats the head and guts for you while making soft noises and watching what you do. As the fish is cooking, its long fingers gently touch your face, claws long as your own pinkie, and makes a curious noise as it touches your tears.

“Of course you don’t get it. This is your life. I hate killing things.” You shudder as your little travel fork brings another chunk of fish meat to your mouth, “But you mean well. You don’t understand that it hurts me to do this every day.”

Looking at you, then at the fish, then back, it then gives a gurgling noise that sounds upset and lays down completely, head nudging your leg now and then. You aren’t sure what exactly it’s decided, or why it wants to help you eat, but you hesitantly pet its head appendage in gratitude. The appendage’s long end curls around your arm gently, and the bulb on the end begins to faintly glow.

-

That’s how you survived, being fed by your crystal creature and drinking from a pool in the cave. And you were found two years after your disappearance, curled in the arms of the creature and very much alive and well.

Chapter Text

Studying the cave drawings, you became very concerned. The paintings depicted human figures bowing to a much larger figure that was similar, but always drawn with some kind of flowing attachment to the head and CLAWS.

Examining the rest of the cave, you can tell it was a ritualistic sort of place, though from what era you aren’t sure. Making a mistake you’d later wonder how you made, you run your hand along a wall and gasp, the edge cutting into your palm deep enough to bleed. As you yank your hand back, the blood drops go flying, dribbling into basin in the center of the room. A screech echoes in the cave, deep inside, and you hear something running, FAST, on two feet. In pain from the deep cut and scared, you pull your hand to your chest and duck under a small shelf that had been carved into the wall, hiding in the shadows of it.

Sniffing and growling came to your ears, and then a rough, deep voice called teasingly, “I smell your sweet blood, mortal. Our first in eons, nectar on our wounds.”

Small steps, making you press your lips together as tight as you can as you take a deep breath to hold. The voice is male, and you hear as he drags his claws on the wall, then a loud slurping noise. Another voice, still male, but smoother and clearly different, “Other, they taste so clean. A weak little scholar, I think. How soft will their flesh be?”

Both voices laugh, and you shudder as they overlap like a nightmare, and you see only one pair of feet walk into view. Bare, with clawed toes and the scars of battle on the part of their legs you can see. The gruffer voice speaks again, “It hides from us, brother. But their fear smells delicious.”

Without warning, the figure drops and grins at you with a mouth full of sharp teeth, red eyes with black sclera, and a face split between a dark and light red down the middle in a crescent. “Gotcha,” the smoother voice said, dragging you out of the shallow hiding space and pulling you up to face them. They were small and held you by both wrists to look eye to eye, which meant they were only as tall as you. They wore a hat similar to a night cap, decorated in black stars on the red fabric, red flowing pants with the same design.

Cooing in the smooth voice, it took your injured hand and put it in its mouth, sucking on it and licking the wound, making you wince as it stung. After a while, it let your hand go and grinned that sharp smile again, “Just as tasty as we thought. We’ve been starving so long, and you gave us enough to wake us up. You’ve raised the Bloodmoon from our slumber and we will spare you as thanks.”

“Now we must feed,” The gruff voice comes from the same mouth, expression snapping to a grumpier one as they look to the side, “But we don’t want you to leave, no no no, too tasty and ours now, gave us an offering, you did. Accident yes, but still.”

Another expression change, shifting to curiosity as the smooth voice asked, “Would the weak academic come with us, I wonder? Or shall we put them in the pit to wait?”

“Pit pit!” the gruff voice crowed, and flung you over their shoulder to walk to another part of the cave before lowering you into a deep hole by the wrists until you hit the ground. “Stay here, morsel, and we’ll be back once our bloodlust is slaked and our belly full.” The two giggled and ran off quickly, and you wondered in horror what you had unleashed onto the world again.

Chapter Text

You had your stick, and you used it to test the path while ignoring the lights flickering in the distance. Nope, you knew better. You weren’t becoming the next bog fossil.

But one wouldn’t leave you alone. It was a golden color and bops into you as a soft white one follows it.

“No, I want to get home, and I don’t fancy drowning,” you say to the little light as it bops you again. The white one is making circles around your head slowly, and you’re getting curious about why they’re together if the white one is so docile and the other one is upset. “You two are an odd pair. I’d think you’d hunt alone, or have similar styles, but no. Soft little white light and aggressive little golden light.”

The white light then bops you on top of your head and you laugh, as if it’s trying to argue that it isn’t soft.

You continue your walk, even if you’re pretty sure you’re lost because of the dense fog that’s rolled in. A large tree comes into view, and you sit on the roots to rest, leaning on your stick. The two lights bop into you, gold more than white, but you don’t react and just try to breathe and be aware of your body and when you might be ready to continue.

After a while, both lights just settled on top of your head, and you got up and started walking again. However, you kept ending up back at the tree, no matter which direction you left it from.

“Are you two doing this?” you ask, and the lights wobble off your head but don’t move otherwise. You have a bad feeling they aren’t responsible. “Oh gosh...it’s getting dark, too. It’s cold...do I need to decide whether to die by cold or drowning?”

The white lights flashes bright for a moment, but begins to push at your back. It is STRONG and you can’t fight it. The golden one takes your sleeve somehow and drags you the same direction, making you have to trot to keep up with the pull, your stick clutched in your free hand.

Ultimately, you end up at an even bigger tree, but it seems to be hollow, and the lights more gently pull you toward the huge opening in its roots. You don’t like the idea of crawling in there, but you figure the lights are trying to make whatever is going to happen to you easier.

The hollow was dark, and you kept going forward, following the lights until the ground gave way, and you tumbled down a long chute into...blissful warmth.

Around you as you slowly get up from your fall, you see a clean, dry room, much taller than you, and the lights materialize into two strange creatures, both with triangle crests around their head. The white light turns into a yellow and cream human-shape, head round and eyes big and white, smiling softly, “Oh, hon, you are so lucky Twister wanted to mess with you. The bog was getting hungry.”

The golden light turns into a similar shape but with different colors, black and dark orange-red. He growls and sits in a chair made to fit his size, “I’m Twister, that is Gale, you are staying here until the bog calms down because your energy is tasty.” His voice is gruff and irritated while Gale’s is more perky and a bit sassy.

Gale’s soft cream fingers help brush you off, and he babbles, “He’s right, you just being alive around us is like we’re drinking the sweetest fruit juice you ever saw. Yeah, Twist wanted to just drain you at first, but your resolve really got his dander up. Hehe.”

Huffing in his corner, Twister says, “it’d be easier to just pull your soul out and feed on it as it fades, but then the bog decided you’d been there long enough it could have you. So we have to keep you down here until it calms down. Which might take a few years if no other idiot gets lost.”

“years?!” you yelp, and Gale rolls his eyes and gently removes your thick jacket and heavy boots.

“I know I know, that’s big for a human, fragile little thing that you are, but! We’ll have a great time and since we’re magic, we can make it so you don’t age! A few free years of vacation! Fae travel is a lot faster, too, so we can show you so many cool locations without you having to be revealed to the rest of the world. Honestly, doing things our way is so much better than silly human traditions. How do you guys even have fun with how little you celebrate? Your lives are so BORING now that you’re all locked in your big metal buildings all day. Where are the midsummer parties? Week long festivals? Harvest dances? None of that anymore!”

Gale’s words sink in and you shiver a bit. While you wouldn’t mind a vacation, especially a long one, you don’t know how to explain to the fae how that would impact you once you go home. But the idea of the bog itself having designs on your life is too chilling to even consider turning down the offer of shelter.

Chapter Text

Sun purred as his human pet his frills and fed him. The small fishes were easy to swallow, and it was so nice not to need to fight for food. Moon was asleep beside them, curled around the human and acting as a back rest for them while he slept off his own meal.

They were fascinated by the frosted glass look of his front side, and his eyes watched theirs as they followed the obvious dark spot of the fish down his throat. His heart and lungs were purple and red shapes, his breath obvious as his pulse in the myriad veins and arteries. Sun loved the soft expression on their face whenever they watched his insides, especially his heart, the gentle blush and half lidded eyes, the tender touch to his chest that happened every time that reminded him how precious they thought he was.

He sighed and started to drift off, stomach full and heart fuller.

-

You can hear both Sun and Moon snoring quietly, their smooth skin warm against your own. Suns frills fluttered in the warm shallows you were rested in, and Moon’s lure flicked as he dreamed. However, you can’t help but watch Sun as his body works visibly in front of you, the little shifts of his organs processing his food, his lungs inflating and his heart thumping away. It’s also easy to see the bones in his arms and legs, at least on the softer inside bits. Others might find it gory or disturbing to see these things on a living being, but...this was Sun. He was tied with Moon for the most important people in your life, and nothing about him could change that, least of all something so beautiful as seeing proof of his life before your eyes.

Sun is beautiful to you, and he shows you every day that he feels the same about you. Moon is the same, even if his method is more to lick you and lay over top of you just to get you to squirm and tease you. But his mischievous smile and the way he’d nuzzle you was worth any small aggravation.

Your hand strokes softly over Sun’s heart, the thin skin and loose ribs of him giving you a clear view. It’s comforting to be able to see it, to know without a doubt that he’s sleeping soundly and still with you. Losing him and Moon when you were a child had been more than devastating, and finding them again had healed part of you that had been broken since then, but you still had an underlying fear that you’d wake up one morning and be alone again. Seeing Sun’s heart soothed that scared little child more than anything else. He was real, he was here, and he was alive.

Chapter Text

A remote island is the perfect place to find new unique species, and you’re out with your camera following a very strange trail.

It looks like a snail trail, glittering with leftover mucus, but it’s massive and you’re confused about why. It’s easily as far across as you are tall and...oh. It splits. Now there are TWO TRAILS, going around a tree and then meeting back up.

Okay so it isn’t one HUGE snail or slug, it’s TWO big ones. You trot forward quickly and hear quiet noises, meaning you’re close. After a few minutes, you come up to a sight that boggles your mind.

People. SNAIL PEOPLE, or...well, one snail person. The other one has no shell, so slug?

Slug person is a buttery yellow color and has fronds around its round face, cooing as its fluttery sides grip the ground, fully formed hands holding a bush as it munches on the leaves. Next to it is a soft silvery snail person with a long protrusion off its similarly round head, which fades to a dark blue and ends in a spherical shape that’s bright yellow. Its shell is the same dark blue and speckled with yellow, a beautiful perfect spiral that was shiny in the beams of light through the canopy. It was eating leaves, too, but seemed more interested in its companion than the food.

Very slowly, you raise your camera and begin taking photos. You use film, polaroids, and the photos fall out of your camera quickly. However, the clicking of the roll being forwarded and the noise of the development alert your subjects and they turn to you faster than you were expecting, their torsos (they have those!) leaning over toward you.

They blinked, and the golden one’s fronts went rigid, looking like a sun drawing. The other one extended the ‘cap’ like growth on its head and bopped you with the bulb on the end on your chest. Their eyes were in their faces, the yellow had white eyes and the silver blue had red, all solid color. A noise came from the slug’s mouth, and he wriggled over to get a closer look at you until he’d bowled you over with his enthusiastic leaning.

From the ground, he stretched over you, his slimy body over your legs as he mouthed your arm in curiosity while his hands scrunched happily in the fabric of your shirt. The snail, meanwhile came over more slowly and seemed to enjoy the helpless look on your face, his mouth in a smug smile as he lay next to you and messed with your hair.

At the moment, there was nothing you could do as they weighed far more than you, and you had to just accept the slime all over you as they chirped and trilled to each other while examining you.