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The being known as Derpy the Tiger does not have a name, really. To imply a name would to be to imply an origin, whereas Derpy has no such thing. He simply came to be, an existence pulled from the ether, in between space and time, between life and death, and between this reality and the next. His earliest memories are that of spools of yarn, strings of shimmering thread unfolding and refolding themselves around each other, until there was a sudden existence and presence where there had been none before: nothingness becoming something. It was like waking up from a slumber, except Derpy never remembered falling asleep, just waking up one day and there he was.
His existence nowadays is still an enigma, one without form or purpose, and he occasionally finds himself drifting, slipping between boundaries like there are none. He does not really belong to a single realm, single plane, or single place: he is a bridge between, connecting realms, ideas or people, and that is what he is content to be. His existence is that of between things: between human and demon, between past and future, and, of course, between slumber and wakefulness.
So, really, it's not Derpy's fault that when he slips into a deep sleep, he emerges in a brand new world.
It was only natural for such a thing to happen.
Derpy wakes to the sound of voices in the room. They are familiar voices—high-pitched, loud and musical—which is why he does not wake from his rest. He twitches softly, half in agitation, half in warning. His sleep is disrupted, but he will be forgiving if they stop soon.
They don't stop.
"... what do we do with it? How did it even get in here?"
"What even is it? I didn't even know blue tigers existed."
"Ooooh, maybe it's a new breed? Like it escaped from some laboratory somewhere, and managed to make its way here?"
"... into our living room?"
"I don't know, it doesn't look like any of the tigers I've seen. Maybe it's a new kind of demon? Do demons even come in these sizes?"
Derpy snorts softly. It is another warning.
"Awwww, that was so cute!"
"Watch it, Zoey! This could be something that Gwi-Ma sent to trick us. He must know that we're so close to sealing the Honmoon."
"So he sends a giant blue tiger?"
The noises are noisy—too noisy for a peaceful sleep, and Derpy is forced to wake. A guttural growl emerges from his throat, a combination of mourning for his interrupted slumber and slight frustration with the situation at hand. Steadily, his eyes peel open, blinking slowly to take in the room in front of him.
"Look out, he's waking up!"
"Alright, girls, be ready for anything!"
"Hiyah!"
Derpy peers up.
He is positioned where he normally sleeps, right next to the giant white couch where the purple-haired one had once convinced him to sleep after she tired of his sleeping too often on her balcony. The purple-haired one is still here, too, but she has her glowing weapon raised, drawn in front of her, and its edge pointed at him. Beside her, the pink-haired one is also wielding a glowing blade, not angled anywhere specifically, but ready to move at a moment's notice. The black-haired one is standing on the couch, legs spread apart and a couch cushion raised overhead.
Derpy yawns.
"... okay, that was the cutest thing ever."
"I know, right?" the black-haired one spits out rapidfire, her couch cushion already lowering to her side. "Tigers can actually spend up to twenty hours a day just sleeping! They do it to conserve energy for a hunt because they're mostly nocturnal hunters. I always feel so bad for the tigers trapped in zoos, because they have no room to roam around, so all they get to do is sleep all day."
"Guys, focus on the threat, please? This might be a trick from Gwi-Ma! The last thing we need is to get distracted here, not with the Golden Honmoon so close."
Derpy does not care much for Honmoon this or Honmoon that. He has heard enough about it from the girls in front of him—the black-haired one in particular has made Derpy do numerous things in the name of research—and he really just wants to get back to sleep.
Instead, now that the girls have interrupted his nap, he will take his revenge.
Slowly and steadily, like the hunter he is, he steps forward.
"Get back!" The purple-haired one immediately shouts, bringing her weapon forward and waving it around.
Derpy does not stop.
"Uhh... if this is supposed to be an assassin from Gwi-Ma, I think he's broken. Are they supposed to move that slowly?"
"No?" the black-haired one says, sounding uncertain. "They're actually supposed to be quite fast. Maybe he's not actually a tiger?"
"But he looks exactly like one. What else could he be? A teddy bear?"
Derpy is getting closer now, and the purple-haired one sounds desperate in her call, "Guys! Facts later, maybe? Can we deal with the maybe-demonic tiger in our living room first?"
Derpy's hunt is unfortunately interrupted.
By his mortal enemy nonetheless.
Derpy has only ever had one mortal enemy (the bird does not count). It is a devious thing, taking various shapes and sizes, always waiting eagerly around every corner. Sometimes he will be walking normally, and it will appear out of nowhere, trapping him in an endless cycle for an eternity. Sometimes he will notice it beforehand and purposefully walk around it, only for it to be pulled into his path regardless. Sometimes he won't even be moving, and it will manifest in front of him, like a fated meeting, and he will be stuck in its vicious cycle.
For a being made to traverse planes and exist on the move, Derpy hates nothing more than being stuck in one place forever.
In this case, his mortal enemy takes the shape of a trash can, knocked over in the purple-haired one's haste to back away.
Derpy moves it.
It falls back down.
Derpy moves it.
It falls back down.
Derpy moves it.
It falls back down.
"Great, he's broken."
"Mira! That's mean! Look at him! He's trying his best!"
"... what is he doing?"
Derpy moves the trash can again.
It falls back down.
"Okay, that's enough." The purple-haired one moves closer, picks up Derpy's mortal enemy, and murders it with aplomb. The trash can does not fall back down, and Derpy knows that his enemy has fled this time, to manifest again at a later time. The purple-haired one has chased it away for now, but it will return with a vengeance.
It always does.
But this is why the purple-haired one has always been his favorite: she was always far more efficient in killing than the other two.
Derpy moves closer to offer his appreciation, but the purple-haired one merely backs away, her hands waving awkwardly in the air, reaching for a weapon that's not there. Derpy chuffs, half in curiosity, half in appeasement, and she stops. Her eyes widen slowly as Derpy gets ever closer, at a sedate and calm pace.
"Guys? Are you seeing this?"
"Yes. Keep going!" the black-haired one chimes, the couch cushion in her hands replaced with something else, a small boxy thing decorated with cute charms that Derpy has seen her carrying everywhere.
"Are you recording me?"
"Duh, what else would we be doing?" the pink-haired one answers, also posturing loosely and looking in their direction. Her weapon is also nowhere to be seen, faded into the ether.
Derpy chuffs again. And this time, the purple-haired one pays attention. She draws even closer, a hand stretching down slowly and cautiously, ready to move at a moment's notice. Derpy has no time for these kinds of games, so he bumps into it, pressing his head into the girl's hand and waiting for the inevitable petting to begin.
And it does.
Derpy is pleased.
"Oh-my-god Rumi! He's growling! Listen to him!"
"Yeah," the purple-haired one says, her hands continuing to brush against Derpy's head in a manner that is comforting and satisfying. Her fingers are hesitant and slow, measured movements that barely scratch the surface of what Derpy is used to. It is strange, given the girl has worked her fingers into his fur for months now (Or has it been months? The passage of time was always so weird), and the inkling of a suspicion works its way into Derpy's brain.
And then it promptly disappears, faded away into the ether with nothing to hold onto it.
It probably wasn't important anyway.
Instead, Derpy goes for his favorite form of thanks. He nudges the purple-haired one until she's looking directly at him with curiosity, and then he seizes the moment to wrangle his body over hers.
"Hey! What the heck! Get off me!"
Derpy chuffs and presses down until she's trapped underneath his weight. Not enough to crush her, but enough that she wouldn't be able to escape easily, no matter how much she tried.
"Mira, Zoey, help me out of here!"
Laughter.
"Stop laughing at me!" The purple-haired one tries to nudge him, but Derpy does not feel like moving. Besides, if the purple-haired one really wanted to get out, she could always teleport out, like Jinu always did.
Derpy misses Jinu.
"Our Golden promo was supposed to start today! Help me out!"
"I don't know," the pink-haired one remarks. "I think the tiger has decided that today is a no-working kind of day."
"Oh, don't be mean, Mira. He's just helping her out. By teaching her how to relax."
"I know how to relax!" the purple-haired one yells from underneath him. She's struggling today, her limbs smacking into the sides of Derpy with a furious anger. She's noisier than she normally is, and a part of Derpy wonders if he has gone too far with it this time. But she was like Jinu too, and did not bend to his whims unless she wanted to be here.
Derpy yawns again, a rumble that goes all the way from tail to mouth. His drowsiness from earlier returns: his nap was interrupted, after all. Maybe now is a good chance to continue?
"No wait! Don't fall asleep!"
His tail curls around to brush up against the noisy human underneath. His eyes blink wearily, slipping back into the easy rhythm of open-close-open-close that heralds an incoming nap. The room around him starts to blur away, a hazy fog that disappears between blinks of his eyelids.
Another yawn.
"Guys?"
"Guys? Oh, for goodness' sake, I swear to god if you're taking pictures, Zoey!"
"Guys? I need help here!"
Sleep waits for no one, least of all Derpy. His eyes finally lose the battle for wakefulness, and his mind slips away, back into the land of dreams and darkness. Before he drifts off, he hears one last resigned sigh from the girl underneath, long and drawn out.
"What did I do to deserve this?"
It isn't until later, when Derpy has had a chance to finish napping (much to the purple-haired one's noisy grumbling), that he notices an old scent in the air.
It is the smell of smoke and ash, a conflagration on the verge of burning out, its last dying embers refusing to go quietly in the dark. It is the smell of grief and sadness and regret, heavy in its tears and quiet in its mourning. It is the smell of old candles by a campfire, a weathered and worn bipa whose wood has lost its grounded roots, and a small metallic bell whose iron is rusted. It is a bundle of emotions that refuses to move on, even with the passage of time, and Derpy recognizes it immediately because it's a familiar scent that he has not picked up in months.
It is Jinu's scent.
Derpy lifts himself to its presence, and before the black-haired one or the purple-haired one has a chance to say anything to him, he slips into the lands between and chases after the scent like a dog on a trail. The scent brings him down, down, down, until Derpy emerges into a realm he has not stepped into since the dark one's fall.
Jinu is there, looking the same as ever, sadness clinging to his shoulders like a heavy cloak, his favorite instrument pressed into his hands.
Derpy does not know exactly how long it has been since he's seen him, but he has missed him dearly.
His head immediately goes forward to nudge him, bumping into him with an enthusiasm that is not returned.
"Hey there," Jinu says softly, his hands reaching out automatically to brush against his fur. "Where did you disappear off to? And where did the bird go?"
The bird is Derpy's natural companion. Made of the same ether that Derpy is made of, the bird is intrinsically tied to Derpy's existence, a yin to his yang, and Derpy is sure that it is only a matter of time before the bird joins him, whichever place he has dreamt his way into. Even now, Derpy can feel the tether that connects himself to the bird: it stretches thin and long, like a rope that's anchored between two opposing cliffs, a bridge between realms of space and time. The girls have given the bird a name of their own—Sussie, they call her—a name that the bird has claimed far more insistently than Derpy has his own.
Derpy does not care much for Sussie's presence, and given enough time, she will have made it here regardless (she has always been far cleverer than he is blunt), but Jinu is asking, and for Jinu's sake, Derpy does what he asks.
He tugs on the tether.
Once.
Twice.
And then, before Derpy gets the chance to tug once more, the tether is pulled tight. Sussie has heard his call and is now coming, slipping into the lands between with the same ease with which Derpy falls asleep.
Derpy bumps his head in Jinu's palm.
"Just you and me today, huh?" Jinu's fingers tickle firmly, and a pleased rumbling emerges from Derpy's throat. The purple-haired one was good at giving scratches, but lacked the confidence to scratch deep and hard to reach all the difficult-to-get-to spots. The two others—the pink-haired one and the black-haired one—lacked the strength to penetrate deeper.
Jinu was always the best.
Crack!
The air ripples, shudders, and then splits, reality itself tearing into two. Sussie emerges, as smug as ever, and immediately crows loudly into Derpy's ear. It is a string of noises, noises that Derpy immediately tunes out as he basks contentedly in Jinu's gifted ability to make good on his care. Sussie eventually stops, her words falling onto willfully ignorant ears, and then lands on Jinu's shoulder, observing him carefully.
"There you are. Where did you go?"
Sussie crows once. Twice.
"Huh. I guess it doesn't matter, does it?"
Sussie crows once more.
"Yeah, yeah, he was here first. I don't think I've ever seen you two separated before. Did something happen?"
Sussie crows again. Derpy growls in response.
"Okay, okay—touchy subject, I get it." Jinu pauses in his scratches, and Derpy mourns the touch for the briefest of moments. And then he sighs, a deep and heavy one that Derpy has heard many many times before, and says, "At least you're both here now."
Gong! Gong! Gong!
The sound of a great and heavy bell reverberates through the air. It lands between the three of them like a heavy missive: the great dark one is summoning everyone again, Jinu included. Jinu's smile disappears as he turns toward the source of the noise, the gathering plaza where the dark one resides. He doesn't move yet, though, his hand still absentmindedly brushing against Derpy's fur. The three of them are silent for the longest of moments, watching as neighboring demons emerge and flood inwards, a tide of bodies pulled in by the dark one's call.
Finally, his hand pulls away, and his tone is soft and resigned when he speaks, "Alright then, I guess it's time."
Gong! Gong! Gong!
The reverberations repeat, echoing harshly through the air, tinged with a warning of consequences if they do not start moving soon. Derpy does not like the sound of the gongs—they have always spelled bad news, especially for Jinu—but is about to take a step forward when Sussie crows.
Derpy stops.
Sussie crows two more times, each one louder than the last.
Jinu, who had already been walking away from them, turns around as well. "What is it? Can it wait?"
Sussie does not immediately answer, crowing twice more at Derpy.
And Derpy does not understand. Not really, that is. He is distantly aware of the concept of time—how could he not, when it has been centuries since his birth—but for someone like him, who has spent far more time in the lands between than Sussie, time has lost some of it usual meaning. Time is abstract, not something to be measured, but treasured in those moments where Derpy is there, Derpy is awake, and Derpy is present.
But Derpy trusts Sussie.
And if Sussie has a demand to make, a decision heralded by her genius, then Derpy will meet the demand with his strength. Derpy is the yang to her yin, and where Sussie knows, Sussie thinks, or Sussie says; Derpy follows. That is how they have always worked and it has not failed yet, so why bother changing such?
Derpy moves his body to step around the standing Jinu and parks his body directly in front of him. Sussie soars overhead and lands atop, the brains of the operation coming home to rest.
"What's going on?"
Sussie crows once.
"You don't want me to go?" Jinu pauses, his eyes darting from bird to tiger. Derpy does not answer—this is Sussie's job to do. "Why not? Gwi-Ma is summoning all of us. And you know what happens if I don't show up."
Sussie crows once more. Sharp and loud, a demand to be followed.
"Okay, okay, is this about the plan?" Jinu's hands rise up in surrender. "I didn't know you guys were that bothered by it. But don't you get it? This is my only chance to be free of these memories, free of this shame."
Sussie shakes her head and crows once more, mournful and sad.
"Look," Jinu's voice shifts, frustration rising. "I don't have time for this. I need to get to the plaza."
But when Jinu takes one step forward, Derpy growls. His mouth widens, teeth gleaming like sharp knives, and there's a visceral promise of retribution. Derpy would never hurt Jinu—not directly like this anyway—but the threat of it is enough to give the man pause.
Jinu throws his hands up in the air. "Alright. I need to know, what's up with the two of you? Don't you want me to be free? Look, the Golden Honmoon is almost upon us; if I don't do something soon, I might be trapped down here forever. I can't live with these memories for the rest of my time here."
Sussie crows another time. Better alive than dead.
The words register harshly in Derpy's mind. He has been aware that Jinu has been gone. How could he not, when for months, the winds no longer carried his scent, the realms his presence, and the skies his music? But for a being born of ether, a being with no concept of alivehood or death, only slumber and wakefulness, Derpy had not registered Jinu's disappearance as death. He had been gone, and now he was here, and it is only by Sussie's grace that Jinu is stopped from disappearing again.
From dying again.
Derpy growls once more, and then, before either of Sussie or Jinu gets the chance to do anything, he lunges. His body presses into Jinu's, four hundred pounds of spiritual flesh colliding with one person, and they both go down together, dust and dirt flying into the air. Derpy pushes down hard, wielding his might as a vice, gripping Jinu tightly with his entire frame.
Jinu groans. "What was that for?"
Derpy does not move. His amber eyes watch Jinu carefully, looking for any sign of the man disappearing from underneath. He is not willing to let go, not this time. Sussie crows from above and lands on Derpy's back with a resigned chirp. But Sussie lets out another chirp—an agreeable chirp—and it is from this that Derpy knows that he has done the right thing.
Jinu flops backward, arms spreading out helplessly. "Alright, alright, I won't go."
Gong! Gong! Gong!
The gongs repeat, far more urgent than the previous set. This is the final warning call: anyone else missing after this will be met with immense punishment at the dark one's behest. The dark one was well-known for his cruelty, turning punishment into spectacle, misery into entertainment, and agony into warning. The three of them will have to act soon if Jinu is to make it out of this alive.
Derpy can spot the resigned expression on Jinu's face. His lips twitch knowingly, like he knows what will happen if he is not there soon. He sighs loudly, long and drawn-out, a gust that brushes against Derpy's whiskers and tickles him gently.
Derpy has only moments to come up with a plan, so he does the first thing that comes to mind.
He grabs Jinu with his teeth ("Owwww! Okay, now this is really getting out of hand; watch those teeth!") and pulls him onto his back. Sussie squawks as she's kicked off his back, but it only takes a moment for her to land back on his head, her talons gripping his fur tightly. Jinu's weight barely adjusts, hands and legs scrambling for handholds and footholds on his slick fur, his mouth still spitting words of indignation ("Couldn't you have let me on like a normal tiger?").
Then, without another warning, Derpy leaps.
Reality splits. Streams of blue and pink and white flash by, threads spooled from all over, twisting and turning like moments of time, place or existence. Realms pass by in an instant. This is the lands between: where reality is a suggestion, existence is not defined, and there's no beginning or end, just a continuation from one place to the next. There are moments and snapshots taken from all over—images of another time, another world, and even another universe—but where Derpy wants to go is the closest point where he knows safety resides.
When he finds it, he steps back out of the lands between. The air shifts, shimmers, and then rips open—a piece of paper being torn in two. Derpy steps through, Jinu still on his back, Sussie still on his shoulder, and walks into a room with the three girls from this morning.
Jinu immediately drops down. His words are choked with the agony of a man who has witnessed untold things: "What the heck was that? Could you always do that? Why am I just finding out about this now?"
Chopsticks clatter on the floor.
"Okay, was it just me, or did the magical blue tiger from this morning just drop off a... man?"
"Who are you?"
"Hold on, check this out. He has patterns. He's a demon."
Derpy does not know who spoke first, only that the three girls are back to wielding their weapons from this morning. Jinu's expression changes quickly, but he has a few more passing words to pass to Derpy. "Really? Of all places you chose to bring me to, you brought me to the three hunters!?"
Sussie slaps her wing against her beak and lets out a single sad warble.
"So you're telling me that Derpy brought you all the way from the underworld to do what exactly?"
"Derpy?"
"Does he have another name? Oooh, did you name him something cool, like Khan? Or like Rajah from Aladdin? He could be a Rajah."
"Do demons even watch Disney down there? Do you even know what Disney is?"
"Mira! You never know when the mouse might be listening! Who knows if they think that's an untapped market for their next corporate expansion!"
"Huh, I never gave it a name. I just called it the tiger."
"Oh. And what about the bird? Does she have a name?"
"She? No, it doesn't have a name either."
"... what a terrible and irresponsible pet owner."
"See? He even acts like a demon. Why are we keeping him alive again?"
"Mira, Zoey, focus. Don't let your guard down."
Derpy wants to lie down for a nap. This standoff has been ongoing for too long, and there is no sign of its end. Jinu is tucked behind him, body crouched, fingers gripping so tightly onto his fur as if the moment he lets go, he will be murdered right where he stands. Sussie is hopping from foot to foot on a nearby desk, her six eyes having rolled so much that Derpy is worried they might fall out. The three girls are standing in front of Derpy, weapons still drawn, but no longer raised.
"So... Jinu," the purple-haired one drawls, hesitation lingering in every note of her tone. She looks like she would much rather be doing anything else other than this right now. "Care to explain yourself? What does Gwi-Ma have planned? Why are you here?"
"Look, I already told you everything," Jinu spits out, his fingers twisting around Derpy's fur. "Gwi-Ma was going to summon everyone, the bird and the tiger stopped me, and the next thing I knew, I was dropped here!"
The argument has been repeating in circles. Neither side wants to back down, and the only reason a fight has not broken out is that Derpy has been sitting here, a living barrier for Jinu's continued existence. The words bounce endlessly above his head, as if they repeat the same words enough times, one of them will eventually give in.
Sussie, the greatest being to have been, finally decides to step in. Maybe she, too, has had enough watching this unfold. She squawks once, sharply, the noise piercing the room like a dagger thrown, and then gives one more squawk, this time aimed firmly at Jinu.
He is quiet for a moment and then sighs. "Okay, fine."
Jinu's fingers loosen their grip slightly, tension draining out of the man's body. "Look, Gwi-Ma was probably going to discuss plans about what to do now with the Golden Honmoon right around the corner. He was probably going to discuss the last attempt's failures, and then request for ideas. And whoever comes up with the best idea gets the chance to ask for one favor from him."
The purple-haired one does not sound impressed. "And?"
Jinu is quiet again, so Sussie chirps again. Her six eyes flit over Derpy's head and narrow to a point.
"And I was going to bring up my own plan," Jinu mutters. "It was a stupid idea; I was going to try to steal your fans away with my own group. I thought it would work, but the bird and the tiger had other ideas."
Jinu's voice is drowned in sadness and mourning when he says the next part, "It was my only chance to be free."
Derpy wraps his tail around Jinu's shoulders, a comfort that the man accepts. His hands brush against the fur absentmindedly, tracing the curve of the appendage with a slow and methodical ease. A soft rumble emerges from Derpy's throat, half to cheer the man up from having his secrets laid out to bear like this, half to warn the others from pushing too much more.
"What did you want from him?" The black-haired one is the first to speak, her voice quiet.
"Who cares? He's a demon and we kill demons. Who knows if he's lying to us and trying to trick us."
"Mira, hold on," the purple-haired one follows up, "Let's hear him out. I think he's telling the truth."
Jinu's hand stills for the briefest of moments. His body leans against Derpy's, and then when he speaks, there's a slow cadence to his voice. "I wanted to forget. My memories, that is. I wanted to forget everything—the deal I made, my family, my guilt—I wanted it all gone. I didn't want to have to live in shame anymore or be reminded of my mistakes.
"I just wanted to be free."
The room falls silent. The three girls step back, their weapons of starlight fading into the ether. Derpy relaxes a little once he sees that and leans back on his haunches. He doesn't move from where he is, not while Jinu is still threading his fingers against his fur, but the tension in the room has been dispelled.
Sussie gives one final roll of her eyes and flies over, landing squarely on Derpy's head.
The purple-haired one speaks finally, her tone quiet and measured. "Okay, so let's say we believe you. What are you planning to do now?"
"I don't know?" Jinu shrugs. "I didn't expect to be brought here. The tiger—Derpy, I mean—just picked me up and brought me here. I don't know why exactly, although I can probably guess."
"Guess? What's your guess?"
"Gwi-Ma was summoning everyone for a discussion. He's not very forgiving of failures, but he's even less forgiving of those who don't show up. If I hadn't been brought here, he might have pulled me down to get punished."
"Punished?" The three girls are looking at each other now, throwing glances at each other.
"Yeah, he punishes us. Sets some of us on fire. Others by beating them to death," Jinu says hoarsely. He follows it up with, "I guess the Honmoon is the strongest where the Hunters are, so he won't be able to pull me down as long as you're here."
The room is silent once more.
Jinu stops brushing Derpy's fur to wave his hands around. "Look, I'll get out of your hair soon enough. I don't know what I'll do next, but I'll try to stay out of your way. I just want to live, is that too much to ask?"
None of the three girls is equipped to answer that question. They step even further back and press together, whispers drifting over toward them from the other side of the room.
"... clearly lying through his teeth. Aren't demons supposed to be ..."
"... no, he's telling the truth; he wasn't lying about that part at the very least ..."
"... what do we want to do about this ..."
Derpy stays where he is, tucked by Jinu's side. He looks completely lost for the first time in his life, so Derpy brings his head to bump against his. There's a brief murmur that passes through his lips, a soft contentment that at least Derpy is by his side. "You are a tough little guy after all, huh. I thought I knew everything about you, yet here you are, showing me new things."
Derpy basks in his presence once more.
Finally, the discussion on the other side of the room comes to a close. The purple-haired one starts, clapping her hands together. "I can't believe we're doing this, but we'll let you stay downstairs for the time being. There will be some ground rules, and if you break any of them, we will kill you where you stand. Do you understand?"
"Do those rules come with any punishments as well?"
The scent of fear ripples through the air as Jinu immediately follows it up with, "Okay! Forget what I said! I understand!"
The purple-haired one rolls her eyes, but brings a hand up to start counting upwards. One finger is raised as she starts speaking, tone as dry as a textbook, "Rule number one: no stepping outside of the building without any of us present. If you have to go out for any reason, we want to know about it. If you're spotted outside without any of our knowledge, we will kill you where you stand. Do you understand?"
Jinu nods.
"Rule number two: no sucking souls. If anyone is missing from this building, we will kill you where you stand. Do you understand?"
Jinu nods. Then, as if he can't help himself, he adds, "Look, can I just get the written list you're holding? You don't need to repeat them aloud."
"Do you want to live or not?"
"Okay, okay, I understand—I understand."
The rules continue out like this for a while, each one recited with a memorized cadence, and Jinu nodding firmly along each time.
Derpy yawns.
His body automatically starts padding its way to his usual napping spot. Stepping into the lands between has always made him tired, and he's had to do it with a passenger on his back. Navigating the Honmoon was a lot easier than this, but the Honmoon was a bridge that he could walk on, not a stream of reality for him to step in and out of. But as long as Jinu is still dealing with the three girls, he has to stay awake, if only to make sure nothing dangerous unfolds.
The black-haired one and pink-haired one also stride over, sitting down next to him with a cautious distance. The black-haired one immediately reaches a hand out, brushing his fur with a soft touch that lulls with the promise of slumber.
"Awwwww, look at how cute he is! He's growling!"
"Yeah, he is. How long do you think that's going to take?"
"A long while. Hehe, I wonder if Rumi knows that I made half that list up."
"Oh, I think she knows. She's enjoying this just as much as we are."
Finally, the rules come to an end: "Final rule: Derpy and Sussie will stay with us for the duration of your stay. This is non-negotiable and will result in a termination of your rental agreement—Zoey, where did you take this from!"
Before the black-haired one says anything, Jinu says, "That's fine with me. The tiger and the bird tend to go where they please, so you will find that they do their own thing from time to time."
"Is that all?"
"That's all."
"Alright then, thank you, Hunter-nim." Jinu steps forward and gives the purple-haired one a firm handshake.
"Oh..." the purple-haired one stares. "Yeah."
Derpy rolls over and falls asleep.
