Books Galore!

Welcome to the official Night Raven College book club account. We hope you enjoy it here, and feel free to interact with any one of us.

[nrcbookclub]

Welcome To The Book Club!

Rules for this blog

1. Be respectful of boundaries

2. No NSFW, mod is a minor and uncomfortable. Jokes are allowed

3. My motivation is iffy and I do have stuff outside of tumblr, if I don’t respond within 24 hours you are free to DM me but please be nice

4. Specify which muse you mean if you want someone specific! I have six characters, if you don’t specify I’ll choose

5. Not really a rule, but please don’t be scared of talking to me! If you wanna discuss rp stuff, characters, etc, I’m open to it! And don’t be afraid to leave something in my inbox :]

Reference for Roleplay(Speaking/Actions)

When a character is speaking, “the text will look like this” with the text inside the bubbles as their colld

When a character is doing an action, [the text will look like this] with their name in their color(seen below)

Trystia

Freya

Alexander

Harvey

Klen

Azalea

Rules For Shipping

1. No relationships for Klen, Freya, or Alexander

2. Virgo and Trystia are a package deal, they are polyamory only

3. Characters must be within a year of eachother’s age(rules get iffy for fae)

Student Proflies/Art

Trystia

Freya

Alexander

Harvey

Klen

Azalea

CANON DESIGNS

[nrcbookclub]

[Shadows loom over the school campus as a large pair of wings block out the sun. Various students on campus are panicking. Some have a familiar collar around their necks. Others have a glass over their eyes, stumbling back to their dorms. Ink-stained feathers are scattered across the campus.]

[Several students, particularly the ones who have overblotted, get a notification pop-up, sort of like a video game system.]

Do you regret it?

✅/❌

— @nrcsfavoriteshrimps

(sorry if this isn’t very good, I had a bit of trouble with this ;-; /lh)

[Trystia is sat in the library, as she usually is, but this time it’s different. It’s clear they’re trying to figure out what’s going on while staying in what she assumes will be a safe space, at least for now. There’s a few books around on the table she was working at, abandoned as they moved to a more secluded area to hide until there was a determination of whether or not it was safe to move out of the area. Trystia is hoping it’s not an overblot, but knowing how this school is.. it’s probably an overblot.]

“..huh? What the- who’s messaging me? Fuck I hope the others are…”

[Trystia’s voice trails off as she notices something. The notification. Regret. She regrets a lot of things, but what could it be referring to? And if it was an overblot, why would they be asking her that..?

They choose the checkmark option. After a few seconds of deliberation, of course. It’s probably the safest option. Hopefully.]

you’re all good! sorry it took so long to respond, i decided to go to bed at 3 am on one of my last school nights and then crashed as soon as i got home </3

[nrcsfavoriteshrimps]

[The pop-up disappears, though the eerie air remains. Outside the window, a figure flies down from the main building to the botanical gardens.]

[A trail of feathers and ink are left behind. On the ground, a different winged figure, completely blot-colored, looks up with piercing gold eyes. It smiles, then disappears.]

[How odd.]

[nrcbookclub]

[Trystia watches the figure, having noticed it out of the corner of her eyes.

Sevens fucking damnit. Another overblot.

Their eyes trail towards the botanical gardens, considering. And Trystia, ever the bleeding heart, gets up and begins to move. Move towards the gardens that hold another overblotted student. Because she doesn’t want the school to get destroyed or something. Counterproductive considering she kinda lives here every part of the year but summer]

“Alright. This is fine. Normal even, considering this fucking school.”

[She’s in denial]

[nrcsfavoriteshrimps]

———

[In the gardens, a few people are scattered about. Chase is there, ducking behind some large leaves.]

“H-Hey, over here!” [he whispers out, eyes wide with terror. He waves them over hurriedly.] “Do you know what’s going on?! Why did Sadiya go cuckoo?!”

[Sadiya seems to be calmly walking around, though there’s a stumble to her steps. The apparition appears behind her, whispering something they can’t hear from where they are. Sadiya looks towards the direction of the apparition, and for a moment, her eyes seem clear. Still crying. Her eyes full of regret and shame. Then, she’s gone again, her eyes glazed back over and narrowing.]

“̵̥̩̽̔̃͗͝T̶̺̮͈̲́͘h̵̛̤ͅé̸̘͘ȳ̶̮̳͊́ ̷͕̳̘̇̏̃́͠f̸̭̏̋͊́ő̵̢̲̠̗̊͒l̵̪̄͘ļ̷͓̝́ö̷̙͍̰̠́̇̏̕w̴̦̎e̸͍̣̯̮̔̂͑͝ḓ̶̳̿?̴̙̗̚”̴̡̛̲̹͓̽͑̋ [Her voice comes out distorted and echoed.]

[The apparition seems to smile as it speaks,] “Indeed they did…they said they regretted it, but…can you be so sure?” [Its words make Sadiya pause.]

“̵͎́…̶̗̾ē̸̝v̶̗̽e̶̙͘ȓ̶̰y̶͍͝o̴͕̍n̵̥͂ē̴̺ ̴́͜ŝ̸̩a̴̘͌y̷͓͆ș̷̅ ̷̻̉t̴̜̓h̷̭̿a̷̲͊t̵͖͝…̷̡͗ḍ̸̃ó̵̫ ̶͓̀t̴̤̚h̸̻̿e̶̗̋y̶̳͆ ̴̯̿ḿ̴͔è̶̙a̴̬̔n̴͇͆ ̴̦̕i̵̫͠t̴͍̅…̵̫̀?̴̱̊”̷̼̋

“You know what…I don’t think they do. Shouldn’t you teach them a lesson?”

[Sadiya is quiet for a while.] “̴͙̈́…̴̡̑f̶̗̑i̶̥̍ń̵͙d̵̠̾ ̶͍̄ť̵̨ḫ̴͐e̵̯͘m̵̢̈́.̵̫̂”̵̣̎

“Of course, dear host…”

[The Apparition disappears again.]

[Chase’s ears are pointed back, tail between his legs. He’s trying to muffle his terrified sobs, barely managing to do so.]

“Sadiya, she…she wouldn’t do this willingly…s-someone has to be controlling her…right?”

[nrcbookclub]

[Trystia’s head snaps towards the other student surprisingly fast, and she seems to be trying to remember Chase’s name. After a few seconds she ends up standing near him, also hiding. They look at Sadiya for a second, brows furrowed as they just.. observe for a second, before turning to Chase]

“Uh.. Chase, right? I.. think she’s overblotted… but I’m trying to convince myself it’s not one because those are kind of a pain. For everyone involved. But first things first, are you ok?”

[She has clearly taken note of his terrified state, and is also cataloging the cries of the plants around her. Although they’re also trying to not panic, it’s clear Trystia is pretty good at keeping calm]

“You look… terrified. Or very scared, if you want a lighter term..”

[nrcsfavoriteshrimps]

“N-No, terrified is right…Sadiya is one of my closest friends…she wouldn’t…she isn’t…” [Chase explains, whimpering quietly.] “I’m worried about her…it’s kinda weird to say but this smells…different than the other overblots. Thicker…I think…?”

[While Sadiya stumbles to the far side of the garden, a trail of feathers is left behind. The apparition walks in the opposite direction. While Sadiya walks more like she’s being dragged, the apparition walks with purpose and focus. It hums, like it’s playing. But it isn’t. It’s hunting.]

“Now now, dear friends…why must you hide? I’m sure we could find a way to talk about things~!”

“That thing…” [Chase whispers,] “…it’s like it’s the one controlling her…not the other way around…”

[nrcbookclub]

[Trystia watches Sadiya and the apparition, both to analyze and keep an eye on the possible danger. She’s begun to whisper as well]

“…yeah. It looks different to me too. Plus the whole ‘do you regret it’ pop up… this is a weird overblot, that’s for sure.”

[They jump a bit at the sound of the voice, nodding along to Chase’s.. statement? Theory? Whatever it was, Trystia agrees. They have a hand on their magic pen, just in case]

“It definitely seems like that.. and the way it moves reminds me of some of the predator animals I’ve seen..”

[nrcsfavoriteshrimps]

[Chase sniffs the air, his eyes widening as he covers his mouth with his hands. The Apparition strolls behind them, seeming to giggle as it approaches.]

[Once it passes, Chase looks over.] “W-We might need backup…if this thing is this coherent, I don’t think the two of us are gonna be enough…” [he whimpers as he looks around for anybody else.] “W-Who else could we try to find…? Who else could even help…?”

[The apparition walks by again. It seems to be circling them, like a shark in the water. It knows they’re there. It’s just waiting for the perfect time to strike.]

[nrcbookclub]

[Trystia tenses, grip on her magic pen tightening, as the apparition gets closer. She nods silently while trying to think of a person who could help..]

“I- I don’t know.. I definitely agree we need help, two vs two-ish with a sentient thing during an overblot is a bad match up. And I’m down my unique magic..”

[The last part is said near silently, as they continue to watch the apparition and mentally prepare for a conflict between this thing and themself]

“I could send a message for the book club group chat, but I don’t know if any of them would get here in time..”

[nrcsfavoriteshrimps]

[Luckily for the duo, the Apparition is suddenly attacked by a winged figure. Is…is that Sadiya?! Fighting her own phantom?! Whatever’s happening, it gives Chase enough time to grab Trystia’s hands and drag her out of the garden.]

[Once outside, Chase huffs in exhaustion from the sudden sprint. From the windows, he sees the Apparition gripping Sadiya’s face, forcing her to look it in the eyes. The glass is cracked, so he can hear what’s being said:]

“Do you REALLY think they’ll EVER forgive you?!”

“N-No, but I—”

“YOU were the one that let your blot grow so much! It’s been building up all YEAR, and you didn’t do a thing about it?!”

“I didn’t want them to worry—”

“Oh, they’re not gonna worry. They’re gonna DESPISE you!!! You overblotted! You’re causing damage right now! Sevens, you’re just the scum of Twisted Wonderland, aren’t you?”

“You…”

“Did it finally click for you? That’s right. Since you kept your emotions bottled up for so long, and thanks to that magic of yours…I have control. You built up so much, I have POWER! I’m more than just your phantom…”

[The phantom’s eyes pulse. It seems like it’s using Snake Whisper…on Sadiya…and unlike Winter Break, it’s working.]

“I am the embodiment of your regrets and fears. Your guilt personified. I’ll make you hurt the ones you love, just so you feel worse. So that I get stronger. Because you’ll never be able to repent. You’ll never be forgiven. You will never be seen as good in the eyes of the Great Seven.”

“…”

“You’re the one that carries the weight of their guilt, because none of them can feel it. None of them suffer like you do. They deserve to suffer, just like you are right now.”

“̸̡̟̇̀̋…̸̤̈́I̶̧͈̮͠…̴̗̞̏̆͐”̶̬̹̮̐̆

“G o m a k e t h e m r e g r e t i t M O R E.”

“̴̡̲̻̇…̷̬͋͋̃͠I̵͉̙̥͂͛̅̏ ̴͍̲̼͉̼̖͛̀̉̽͗w̷͈̓͒̍ḯ̴̩͇̟̻̟̞̒̑l̷̛̩͉̋͠l̶̛̙̑͌͒…̴̨̻̦͛͗͝”̶̫̩́̈́͊̎̚͝

[Chase backs away from the glass, looking at the other student.] “Did you…hear it…? I-It was talking to her…telling her…”

[nrcbookclub]

[Trystia watches the situation at hand with wide eyes before flinching away from the glass at the sound of yelling. The familiar pulse of Snake Whisper has them stifling a gasp with her hand, looking towards Chase and simply nodding. After a few seconds of struggle, they speak again]

“I- I did.. it’s making her fight, I think. Make them regret..”

[She pinches her arm, a nervous habit, brows furrowed as they try to think. Their eyes widen at the end of the sentence they speak next]

“Regret, regret.. it keeps mentioning regret. What could it- oh shit.”

[nrcsfavoriteshrimps]

“W-What? What did you realize?!” [Chase asks, going to take a step forward. But his knees give out, and he falls to the ground.]

[He covers his mouth with his hands, suddenly feeling sick. This isn’t good.]

“What are we gonna do…?”

[nrcbookclub]

“Regret.. maybe related to overblots..? I can’t entirely explain my thought process but I just- it would make sense… I think.”

[Trystia startles when Chase falls, quickly doing a visual check of if he’s hurt]

“Right now..? Make sure we don’t like.. die. But long term, we need to make sure Sadiya like.. how do you phrase it? Snaps out of it. Reach out for help too maybe?”

[nrcsfavoriteshrimps]

[Chase thinks for a long moment, before suddenly perking up. He reaches for his phone, calling a certain contact that they can’t see from that angle.] “I-I know someone I can call!”

“五指！你能到植物园外面来一趟吗？很紧急！” [He seems to be speaking in a language one might recognize as this world’s Mandarin.] “是的！谢谢！”

[He turns to the other student, smiling.] “She’s on her way! We should hide now—”

[nrcbookclub]

“Oh, that’s good!”

[Trystia simply watches while Chase makes the call, shoulders un-tensing a bit in relief when Chase confirms help is on the way. They’re quick to find a place to hide from Sadiya and the blot monster]

“Who did you call? And thank you, for calling someone…”

[nrcsfavoriteshrimps]

“Just a friend of mine! She’s more suited to deal with others’ blot than I am…”

[Just a few moments after they hide, the Apparition approaches.]

“I know you’re there.”

[Chase slaps his hands over his mouth again. The Apparition strolls by the bush, its grin growing.]

“Why don’t you come on out? It’ll be so much easier…”

[It stops right in front of them.]

“There you—”

[WHACK!!!!]

[The sound of glass cracking is heard when a staff meets the Apparition’s head. It lands with a thud, looking up at the new person and growling.]

“You little—”

“A BA BA BA!” [Ai Wuzhi cuts the Apparition off.] “I was having a VERY NICE nap, and when I wake up? There’s a fuckin’ overblot?! Fuck off!”

[She goes to swing her staff again, but the Apparition dodges. In an instant, it gets up and flies away, clearly angry.]

“Wuzhi!” [Chase squeals, hopping out of the bush with his tail wagging.] “You made it!”

“Yeah…you’re lucky there was a good reason to wake me up.” [Wuzhi sighs, spinning her staff around before leaning on it.]

[Chase giggles. A moment of calm before the storm.]

[nrcbookclub]

[Trystia appears to be trying to make herself smaller, to hide better from the apparition. She looks up at it for the split second before it gets absolutely fucking whacked. They look shocked and relieved after it flies away, getting up much slower than Chase to greet Wuzhi]

“Thank the seven you arrived in time… and thank you for coming to help us. I doubt we could have done this just the two of us...”

[They give a small smile to Wuhzi]

“And that was pretty cool too.. soo..”

[nrcsfavoriteshrimps]

“Yeah, uh…thanks,” [she says, somewhat bashful.] “So uh…would either of you care to give me a rundown of what happened?”

“W-Well…um…” [Chase hesitates, looking over at Trystia for help.] “…?”

[nrcbookclub]

“Well.. Sadiya had overblotted. It’s a bit different though, the.. apparition that you whacked is much more in control than I’ve ever seen..”

[Trystia trails off before adding on another thing. They’ve been twirling a strand of hair around their finger this whole time]

“And I got a notification about regretting something earlier, which is what prompted me to come here. And Chase called you to help us deal with this and make sure nobody gets too hurt.”

[nrcsfavoriteshrimps]

“Tsk…” [Wuzhi clicks her tongue, putting a hand on her hip while tapping her foot.] “Goddamn overblots…always at the worst times…”

[It seems like she’s locking in…]

“This one is definitely smarter than the others…not only is it talking to us too, but it’s covering up its weakness…not completely, though. If you got a good look at its eyes and mouth, you could see the glass,” [Wuzhi remarks, humming.] “Strange that the ink is gold, though…maybe it’s because most of the blot is outside the bottle? Or is that a different form of blot? Anyways, yeah. Glad you guys are somewhat okay, at least.”

[Chase clears his throat, stepping forward.] “Well, Wuzhi…do you think you could help us? You said your unique magic can absorb other people’s blot before…!”

“Oh! Yeah, that’s…a pretty good idea. If I can absorb enough blot, it’ll be forced to reveal its weakness!” [She grins, straightening up and gripping her staff tightly.] “That way, we can break it! But…the problem is getting it to stay still for long enough…it seems to be using Sadiya like a puppet, rather than the other way around…”

“Right! So we should be careful of that!”

[nrcbookclub]

“I’m as ok as someone in this situation can be..”

[Trystia tilts her head, nodding along to the formations of the plan. They’re glancing around the area for things that might be useful in this.. or environmental advantages]

“Watching out for attacks will probably be harder than expected.. especially since y’know, aforementioned puppetry of Sadiya. Sooo.. maybe a distraction of some kind..?”

[nrcsfavoriteshrimps]

“Yeah, a distraction would be good. As well as a decently-sized place to keep them in so they don’t get away…”

[Wuzhi and Chase are quiet for a few moments.]

“Maybe…the garden could work again? I mean, a classroom would be too small and dangerous, and I can’t really think of any other places…”

[Wuzhi looks over, then at her feet, deep in thought.] “…well…we’d have to evacuate your dormmates, first.”

“…right…” [Chase deflates slightly, worried again.]

“Anyways. If the two of you can provide a distraction for Sadiya, I can go after the…Whaddya call this?”

“I just started calling it an Apparition!”

“That.”

[nrcbookclub]

“I can help distract it, yeah! And probably with evacuation too.. it shouldn’t be too much of a challenge to evacuate people.. maybe. I dunno..”

[Trystia nods, looking over at the garden with newly analytical eyes. They’re trying to determine spots where they could duck behind in case of an attack..]

“Be careful while you go after it though… I don’t think we’re sure how powerful it is on it’s own.”

[nrcsfavoriteshrimps]

[Wuzhi just shrugs. She’ll figure something out.]

“Alright. We got the basics of a plan.” [She spins her staff again, an anxious habit. She’s admittedly very worried, though her experience in battle is helping her hide it.] “But…try not to hurt her too badly…if I know Sadiya, and I do, she’s gonna beat herself up for all of this. She already feels so guilty for winter break…I can’t imagine what this is gonna do to her.”

[Chase lets out a low whimpering sound, like a rejected dog. He lowers his head, too. He doesn’t know her as well as Wuzhi, Rocky, Izem, and Rusul do…but he’s heard the conversations between the Apparition and Sadiya.]

[Wuzhi looks at Chase as she puts her hair up into a bun, tying it with the teal ribbon she’s wearing.] “You sure you’re all gonna be alright?”

“…I-I’ll be fine…once she’s safe!” [Chase exclaims, steeling his resolve. He can always use his own unique magic for a power boost if he needs to.]

[nrcbookclub]

“I’ll be sure to be careful about not hurting her..”

[Trystia is still staring into the garden, though her eyes flick over at the mention of winter break. It’s only for a split second and would be practically unnoticeable if you weren’t looking for it. She’s rubbing the gem of her magic pen, having switched from one nervous fidget to another.]

“Are we ready to do this? The sooner we start the better..”

[nrcsfavoriteshrimps]

[Wuzhi nods, pulling out a strand of hair and blowing on it. Once it lands, a clone of Wuzhi is created. Wuzhi instructs it in another language, and it runs off.]

———

[Wuzhi watches as her clone runs into the gardens, followed by two flying figures. They both enter, right when the clone disappears into sparkles.]

“̴̦́?̵̦̋!̸̟͝”̶̗̒ [Sadiya’s glazed-over eyes widen in shock. She looks around quickly, both her and the Apparition’s gazes landing on the group.]

“Tsk…you two again. And you brought a little friend? How sweet.” [It says, strolling closer to Wuzhi, but not too close so that it can’t get grabbed.] “You…aren’t you lucky Sadiya doesn’t know your unique magic? From what I’ve seen, I’m sure it can be very useful…”

“Piss off.”

“Oh my! Such crass language! Didn’t your mother ever teach you better than that?” [It asks, it’s grin growing.] “Oh, that’s right…never mind then, I suppose.”

[Wuzhi flinches harshly, grip tightening on her staff as Sadiya snaps her head back. That seemed to kick her out of the trance, at least for a moment.]

“Hey, that—”

[The Apparition snaps its gaze back at her, locking eyes with Sadiya. She’s gone again. It looks back at Chase and Trystia, specifically at Chase, its eyes narrowing.]

“…attack the overblotted, Sadiya,” [It commands, waving a hand in their direction.]

“̶̥̌…̸͕͂I̶̯̊ ̸̼̀ẅ̶͕́ì̶̭ḽ̵͆l̷̙̀…̴̩͊”̵͙͋

[Sadiya lunges at the two of them. Wuzhi’s plan seems to be working, at least for now. She beckons the Apparition closer.]

“Then it’s me against you.”

[The Apparition huffs and rolls its eyes.] “Seems so.” [Then, it attacks Wuzhi.]

[Unfortunately, it has Sadiya’s fighting skill, which is very good. Fortunately, Wuzhi is still a trained soldier!]

[nrcbookclub]

[Trystia’s eyes narrow as she does a weird little roll to get out of the way of Sadiya. She has never claimed to be a gymnast, so it is obviously clumsy. She has an eye on the fight between Wuzhi and the Apparition. They trust Wuhzi, especially after seeing those fighting skills, but still.. they can’t help but worry as she rambles under her breath]

“More and more evidence towards my theory and I really wish I wasn’t being proven right about it because that had a whole load of implications..!”

[nrcsfavoriteshrimps]

[Sadiya grunts as Chase lands a blow on her, stumbling back before striking again. Chase narrowly dodges, grabbing Sadiya’s arm and tossing her into the dirt. She stands back up, not even bothering to dust herself off. The golden scarab on her chest’s wings flutter, revealing the black magestone underneath. She inhales, and as she exhales, red smoke pours from her mouth. Wuzhi notices, her gaze snapping in that direction.]

“That’s Silas’s ability! It’s not magic, how did she—?!” [She coughs, dodging an attack and shouting again,] “Hold your breath! And if you can, cover your mouth!”

[Chase holds his breath, taking the chance to hold down Sadiya while she’s still. Sadiya flails, but can’t break out. Her body is still too exhausted to fight back properly.]

[Meanwhile, the Apparition keeps attacking.] “Might wanna hurry~! It’s already been an hour since this overblot started~!” [It taunts them, chuckling.] “If you don’t hurry, you might just see another person die. You don’t want that, do you?”

[Wuzhi, covering her mouth and nose with her shirt, huffs and swings her staff at it. The Apparition dodges, grabbing the staff and throwing her. Wuzhi lands on her feet, skidding to a stop. While the Apparition is distracted with her, Wuzhi gestures for Trystia to get a swing at its head while she keeps its attention on herself.]

[nrcbookclub]

[Trystia, having done the same as Wuhzi to avoid breathing in the smoke, looks over and tightens her grip on their magic pen. They move behind the Apparition swiftly and hopefully without drawing attention to herself. They think over what to do for only a second before mildly panicking and just blasting the back of it’s head with a shot of cosmic magic]

“Oh my fucking seven, holy Fantasy-“

[nrcsfavoriteshrimps]

[The Apparition narrowly dodges, laughing as it nearly strikes Wuzhi instead. Wuzhi thankfully manages to deflect it, sending it into the sky and watching it fizzle out.]

[Huffing, she manages to sneak behind it as it stares at Trystia…]

[Placing her hand directly on the back of its head, Wuzhi, giving a smile of her own, speaks up,]

“Caught ya.”

[While the Apparition flails, Wuzhi absorbs enough blot from it to reveal the glass head. She’s shoved off before she can absorb any further, but its weakness is exposed now and it doesn’t have enough blot to cover it back up. Sighing, the Apparition looks back at Wuzhi.]

“You little shit. Fine then. We’ll play that way.”

[The air tenses as it changes form, becoming more of a monstrous bird. It picks up Sadiya with its talons, breaking her out of the ice and absorbing her into its body. Chase whimpers, stepping back in fear.]

“It can never be that easy, can it?!”

“What…?”

“̷G̸o̸ ̵o̷n̷.̸ ̶I̸’̸l̷l̵ ̵l̷e̵t̵ ̵y̶o̸u̷ ̴t̴a̸k̵e̷ ̶t̴h̵e̷ ̸f̴i̷r̴s̶t̷ ̷s̷h̸o̴t̸.̸”̴

[nrcbookclub]

[Trystia looks a little worried when the blast is dodged, relaxing when Wuzhi is able to deflect it. This worry very quickly turns to overthinking when trying to figure out what the hell to do when the gaze of the Apparition is on her. Should she attack again, or prepare for an attack?

She’s definitely overthinking it and looks relieved when Wuzhi gets it. They grin when it’s blot is absorbed, though the feeling of victory is short lived as they watch in horror as Sadiya is absorbed]

“What the actual fuck..? Is- oh thats.. oh seven.”

[nrcsfavoriteshrimps]

[Wuzhi whistles, and a golden cloud flies down from the sky.]

[She pulls the two other students onto the cloud quickly. It’s sturdy enough to keep the others on!] “Hold on tight, we’re goin’ UP!” [She flies them into the air. The clouds snugly wrap around the group, keeping them from falling.]

[The apparition laughs. The outline of Sadiya can be seen within its torso, now unconscious. It dives at them to strike, but Chase uses a blot-created claw to block it and strike it. It falters, but is still flying.]

“̴G̴o̵o̵d̷ ̷s̸h̵o̸t̴,̶ ̴l̵i̷t̵t̵l̶e̵ ̵m̵u̴t̴t̴!̶ ̸B̸u̷t̴ ̴n̷o̸t̶ ̴e̸n̶o̸u̶g̵h̷!̴”̸

[Wuzhi’s eyes narrow as she glances back at the two, making sure that Chase and Trystia are okay. She starts analyzing it, looking for the right time to strike while avoiding harming Sadiya.]

[nrcbookclub]

[Trystia squeaks at the sudden flight, opting to ignore that reaction in favor of keeping an eye out for any more attacks. Just in case. They don’t speak at all, unsure what to say, if anything at all, in this moment. She does have a tight grip on her magic pen, to not be caught off guard again]

[nrcsfavoriteshrimps]

[Chase perks up suddenly, pointing at the apparition.]

“The wings! Go for the wings!”

[Wuzhi nods, gripping her staff.] “We still gotta be careful, though…Sadiya’s still in there..”

[The Apparition screeches as it swoops down, but this time, Chase knows where to swipe. He scratches his claw at the Apparition’s wing, causing it to scream out in pain and fly back. This makes Chase falter, though…that scream sounded just like Sadiya.]

[Wuzhi picks up the pace, extending her staff to poke holes in its wings. It’s forced to fill those holes back up with its blot, slowly lowering itself to the ground. Still, it keeps attacking, its enraged state blinding it.]

[nrcbookclub]

[Trystia has shot off a few plant based spells of her own at the wings, using thorns to try and tear at them. Her face is one of grim determination and slight worry about where the thorns land. They don’t want to hurt Sadiya. She mumbles, not really to anyone but just to say a thought]

“Carefully attacking something is not something I can say I’ve done before..”

[nrcsfavoriteshrimps]

[Finally, FINALLY, the Apparition is brought down to the ground. It’s smaller, weaker, but still clinging onto Sadiya. It actually seems…genuinely remorseful. It wraps around Sadiya protectively, shielding her from the group.]

[Chase, the bleeding heart that he is, seems to be falling for it.]

“Chase, don’t—” [Wuzhi attempts to stop him from stepping forward, but he does anyway.]

“I…I’m sorry…were you just trying to protect her…?”

[The Apparition shrinks back. Chase kneels in front of it, as Wuzhi is trying to pull him away.]

[Wuzhi exclaims,] “Chase! Get away from it, we have to finish it off!”

[Chase ignores her.]

“It’s okay…just let us end this peacefully.”

[The Apparition inches forward. Chase holds out a hand for it. Slowly, it reaches its head down…]

[…before the glass opens like a jagged jaw. It goes to bite him…]

“Ah—?!”

[nrcbookclub]

[Before the Apparition can bite Chase, a large and thorny vine grabs its head. It’s snake like in the way it squeezes, and it’s unrelenting. Trystia has a look that has combined panic, determination, and anger into one expression as she stares the Apparition down]

“That’s a cheap shot..”

[They speak shakily, but clearly. The words are obviously the first thing that came to their mind]

[nrcbookclub]

[Shadows loom over the school campus as a large pair of wings block out the sun. Various students on campus are panicking. Some have a familiar collar around their necks. Others have a glass over their eyes, stumbling back to their dorms. Ink-stained feathers are scattered across the campus.]

[Several students, particularly the ones who have overblotted, get a notification pop-up, sort of like a video game system.]

Do you regret it?

✅/❌

— @nrcsfavoriteshrimps

(sorry if this isn’t very good, I had a bit of trouble with this ;-; /lh)

[Trystia is sat in the library, as she usually is, but this time it’s different. It’s clear they’re trying to figure out what’s going on while staying in what she assumes will be a safe space, at least for now. There’s a few books around on the table she was working at, abandoned as they moved to a more secluded area to hide until there was a determination of whether or not it was safe to move out of the area. Trystia is hoping it’s not an overblot, but knowing how this school is.. it’s probably an overblot.]

“..huh? What the- who’s messaging me? Fuck I hope the others are…”

[Trystia’s voice trails off as she notices something. The notification. Regret. She regrets a lot of things, but what could it be referring to? And if it was an overblot, why would they be asking her that..?

They choose the checkmark option. After a few seconds of deliberation, of course. It’s probably the safest option. Hopefully.]

you’re all good! sorry it took so long to respond, i decided to go to bed at 3 am on one of my last school nights and then crashed as soon as i got home </3

[nrcsfavoriteshrimps]

[The pop-up disappears, though the eerie air remains. Outside the window, a figure flies down from the main building to the botanical gardens.]

[A trail of feathers and ink are left behind. On the ground, a different winged figure, completely blot-colored, looks up with piercing gold eyes. It smiles, then disappears.]

[How odd.]

[nrcbookclub]

[Trystia watches the figure, having noticed it out of the corner of her eyes.

Sevens fucking damnit. Another overblot.

Their eyes trail towards the botanical gardens, considering. And Trystia, ever the bleeding heart, gets up and begins to move. Move towards the gardens that hold another overblotted student. Because she doesn’t want the school to get destroyed or something. Counterproductive considering she kinda lives here every part of the year but summer]

“Alright. This is fine. Normal even, considering this fucking school.”

[She’s in denial]

[nrcsfavoriteshrimps]

———

[In the gardens, a few people are scattered about. Chase is there, ducking behind some large leaves.]

“H-Hey, over here!” [he whispers out, eyes wide with terror. He waves them over hurriedly.] “Do you know what’s going on?! Why did Sadiya go cuckoo?!”

[Sadiya seems to be calmly walking around, though there’s a stumble to her steps. The apparition appears behind her, whispering something they can’t hear from where they are. Sadiya looks towards the direction of the apparition, and for a moment, her eyes seem clear. Still crying. Her eyes full of regret and shame. Then, she’s gone again, her eyes glazed back over and narrowing.]

“̵̥̩̽̔̃͗͝T̶̺̮͈̲́͘h̵̛̤ͅé̸̘͘ȳ̶̮̳͊́ ̷͕̳̘̇̏̃́͠f̸̭̏̋͊́ő̵̢̲̠̗̊͒l̵̪̄͘ļ̷͓̝́ö̷̙͍̰̠́̇̏̕w̴̦̎e̸͍̣̯̮̔̂͑͝ḓ̶̳̿?̴̙̗̚”̴̡̛̲̹͓̽͑̋ [Her voice comes out distorted and echoed.]

[The apparition seems to smile as it speaks,] “Indeed they did…they said they regretted it, but…can you be so sure?” [Its words make Sadiya pause.]

“̵͎́…̶̗̾ē̸̝v̶̗̽e̶̙͘ȓ̶̰y̶͍͝o̴͕̍n̵̥͂ē̴̺ ̴́͜ŝ̸̩a̴̘͌y̷͓͆ș̷̅ ̷̻̉t̴̜̓h̷̭̿a̷̲͊t̵͖͝…̷̡͗ḍ̸̃ó̵̫ ̶͓̀t̴̤̚h̸̻̿e̶̗̋y̶̳͆ ̴̯̿ḿ̴͔è̶̙a̴̬̔n̴͇͆ ̴̦̕i̵̫͠t̴͍̅…̵̫̀?̴̱̊”̷̼̋

“You know what…I don’t think they do. Shouldn’t you teach them a lesson?”

[Sadiya is quiet for a while.] “̴͙̈́…̴̡̑f̶̗̑i̶̥̍ń̵͙d̵̠̾ ̶͍̄ť̵̨ḫ̴͐e̵̯͘m̵̢̈́.̵̫̂”̵̣̎

“Of course, dear host…”

[The Apparition disappears again.]

[Chase’s ears are pointed back, tail between his legs. He’s trying to muffle his terrified sobs, barely managing to do so.]

“Sadiya, she…she wouldn’t do this willingly…s-someone has to be controlling her…right?”

[nrcbookclub]

[Trystia’s head snaps towards the other student surprisingly fast, and she seems to be trying to remember Chase’s name. After a few seconds she ends up standing near him, also hiding. They look at Sadiya for a second, brows furrowed as they just.. observe for a second, before turning to Chase]

“Uh.. Chase, right? I.. think she’s overblotted… but I’m trying to convince myself it’s not one because those are kind of a pain. For everyone involved. But first things first, are you ok?”

[She has clearly taken note of his terrified state, and is also cataloging the cries of the plants around her. Although they’re also trying to not panic, it’s clear Trystia is pretty good at keeping calm]

“You look… terrified. Or very scared, if you want a lighter term..”

[nrcsfavoriteshrimps]

“N-No, terrified is right…Sadiya is one of my closest friends…she wouldn’t…she isn’t…” [Chase explains, whimpering quietly.] “I’m worried about her…it’s kinda weird to say but this smells…different than the other overblots. Thicker…I think…?”

[While Sadiya stumbles to the far side of the garden, a trail of feathers is left behind. The apparition walks in the opposite direction. While Sadiya walks more like she’s being dragged, the apparition walks with purpose and focus. It hums, like it’s playing. But it isn’t. It’s hunting.]

“Now now, dear friends…why must you hide? I’m sure we could find a way to talk about things~!”

“That thing…” [Chase whispers,] “…it’s like it’s the one controlling her…not the other way around…”

[nrcbookclub]

[Trystia watches Sadiya and the apparition, both to analyze and keep an eye on the possible danger. She’s begun to whisper as well]

“…yeah. It looks different to me too. Plus the whole ‘do you regret it’ pop up… this is a weird overblot, that’s for sure.”

[They jump a bit at the sound of the voice, nodding along to Chase’s.. statement? Theory? Whatever it was, Trystia agrees. They have a hand on their magic pen, just in case]

“It definitely seems like that.. and the way it moves reminds me of some of the predator animals I’ve seen..”

[nrcsfavoriteshrimps]

[Chase sniffs the air, his eyes widening as he covers his mouth with his hands. The Apparition strolls behind them, seeming to giggle as it approaches.]

[Once it passes, Chase looks over.] “W-We might need backup…if this thing is this coherent, I don’t think the two of us are gonna be enough…” [he whimpers as he looks around for anybody else.] “W-Who else could we try to find…? Who else could even help…?”

[The apparition walks by again. It seems to be circling them, like a shark in the water. It knows they’re there. It’s just waiting for the perfect time to strike.]

[nrcbookclub]

[Trystia tenses, grip on her magic pen tightening, as the apparition gets closer. She nods silently while trying to think of a person who could help..]

“I- I don’t know.. I definitely agree we need help, two vs two-ish with a sentient thing during an overblot is a bad match up. And I’m down my unique magic..”

[The last part is said near silently, as they continue to watch the apparition and mentally prepare for a conflict between this thing and themself]

“I could send a message for the book club group chat, but I don’t know if any of them would get here in time..”

[nrcsfavoriteshrimps]

[Luckily for the duo, the Apparition is suddenly attacked by a winged figure. Is…is that Sadiya?! Fighting her own phantom?! Whatever’s happening, it gives Chase enough time to grab Trystia’s hands and drag her out of the garden.]

[Once outside, Chase huffs in exhaustion from the sudden sprint. From the windows, he sees the Apparition gripping Sadiya’s face, forcing her to look it in the eyes. The glass is cracked, so he can hear what’s being said:]

“Do you REALLY think they’ll EVER forgive you?!”

“N-No, but I—”

“YOU were the one that let your blot grow so much! It’s been building up all YEAR, and you didn’t do a thing about it?!”

“I didn’t want them to worry—”

“Oh, they’re not gonna worry. They’re gonna DESPISE you!!! You overblotted! You’re causing damage right now! Sevens, you’re just the scum of Twisted Wonderland, aren’t you?”

“You…”

“Did it finally click for you? That’s right. Since you kept your emotions bottled up for so long, and thanks to that magic of yours…I have control. You built up so much, I have POWER! I’m more than just your phantom…”

[The phantom’s eyes pulse. It seems like it’s using Snake Whisper…on Sadiya…and unlike Winter Break, it’s working.]

“I am the embodiment of your regrets and fears. Your guilt personified. I’ll make you hurt the ones you love, just so you feel worse. So that I get stronger. Because you’ll never be able to repent. You’ll never be forgiven. You will never be seen as good in the eyes of the Great Seven.”

“…”

“You’re the one that carries the weight of their guilt, because none of them can feel it. None of them suffer like you do. They deserve to suffer, just like you are right now.”

“̸̡̟̇̀̋…̸̤̈́I̶̧͈̮͠…̴̗̞̏̆͐”̶̬̹̮̐̆

“G o m a k e t h e m r e g r e t i t M O R E.”

“̴̡̲̻̇…̷̬͋͋̃͠I̵͉̙̥͂͛̅̏ ̴͍̲̼͉̼̖͛̀̉̽͗w̷͈̓͒̍ḯ̴̩͇̟̻̟̞̒̑l̷̛̩͉̋͠l̶̛̙̑͌͒…̴̨̻̦͛͗͝”̶̫̩́̈́͊̎̚͝

[Chase backs away from the glass, looking at the other student.] “Did you…hear it…? I-It was talking to her…telling her…”

[nrcbookclub]

[Trystia watches the situation at hand with wide eyes before flinching away from the glass at the sound of yelling. The familiar pulse of Snake Whisper has them stifling a gasp with her hand, looking towards Chase and simply nodding. After a few seconds of struggle, they speak again]

“I- I did.. it’s making her fight, I think. Make them regret..”

[She pinches her arm, a nervous habit, brows furrowed as they try to think. Their eyes widen at the end of the sentence they speak next]

“Regret, regret.. it keeps mentioning regret. What could it- oh shit.”

[nrcsfavoriteshrimps]

“W-What? What did you realize?!” [Chase asks, going to take a step forward. But his knees give out, and he falls to the ground.]

[He covers his mouth with his hands, suddenly feeling sick. This isn’t good.]

“What are we gonna do…?”

[nrcbookclub]

“Regret.. maybe related to overblots..? I can’t entirely explain my thought process but I just- it would make sense… I think.”

[Trystia startles when Chase falls, quickly doing a visual check of if he’s hurt]

“Right now..? Make sure we don’t like.. die. But long term, we need to make sure Sadiya like.. how do you phrase it? Snaps out of it. Reach out for help too maybe?”

[nrcsfavoriteshrimps]

[Chase thinks for a long moment, before suddenly perking up. He reaches for his phone, calling a certain contact that they can’t see from that angle.] “I-I know someone I can call!”

“五指！你能到植物园外面来一趟吗？很紧急！” [He seems to be speaking in a language one might recognize as this world’s Mandarin.] “是的！谢谢！”

[He turns to the other student, smiling.] “She’s on her way! We should hide now—”

[nrcbookclub]

“Oh, that’s good!”

[Trystia simply watches while Chase makes the call, shoulders un-tensing a bit in relief when Chase confirms help is on the way. They’re quick to find a place to hide from Sadiya and the blot monster]

“Who did you call? And thank you, for calling someone…”

[nrcsfavoriteshrimps]

“Just a friend of mine! She’s more suited to deal with others’ blot than I am…”

[Just a few moments after they hide, the Apparition approaches.]

“I know you’re there.”

[Chase slaps his hands over his mouth again. The Apparition strolls by the bush, its grin growing.]

“Why don’t you come on out? It’ll be so much easier…”

[It stops right in front of them.]

“There you—”

[WHACK!!!!]

[The sound of glass cracking is heard when a staff meets the Apparition’s head. It lands with a thud, looking up at the new person and growling.]

“You little—”

“A BA BA BA!” [Ai Wuzhi cuts the Apparition off.] “I was having a VERY NICE nap, and when I wake up? There’s a fuckin’ overblot?! Fuck off!”

[She goes to swing her staff again, but the Apparition dodges. In an instant, it gets up and flies away, clearly angry.]

“Wuzhi!” [Chase squeals, hopping out of the bush with his tail wagging.] “You made it!”

“Yeah…you’re lucky there was a good reason to wake me up.” [Wuzhi sighs, spinning her staff around before leaning on it.]

[Chase giggles. A moment of calm before the storm.]

[nrcbookclub]

[Trystia appears to be trying to make herself smaller, to hide better from the apparition. She looks up at it for the split second before it gets absolutely fucking whacked. They look shocked and relieved after it flies away, getting up much slower than Chase to greet Wuzhi]

“Thank the seven you arrived in time… and thank you for coming to help us. I doubt we could have done this just the two of us...”

[They give a small smile to Wuhzi]

“And that was pretty cool too.. soo..”

[nrcsfavoriteshrimps]

“Yeah, uh…thanks,” [she says, somewhat bashful.] “So uh…would either of you care to give me a rundown of what happened?”

“W-Well…um…” [Chase hesitates, looking over at Trystia for help.] “…?”

[nrcbookclub]

“Well.. Sadiya had overblotted. It’s a bit different though, the.. apparition that you whacked is much more in control than I’ve ever seen..”

[Trystia trails off before adding on another thing. They’ve been twirling a strand of hair around their finger this whole time]

“And I got a notification about regretting something earlier, which is what prompted me to come here. And Chase called you to help us deal with this and make sure nobody gets too hurt.”

[nrcsfavoriteshrimps]

“Tsk…” [Wuzhi clicks her tongue, putting a hand on her hip while tapping her foot.] “Goddamn overblots…always at the worst times…”

[It seems like she’s locking in…]

“This one is definitely smarter than the others…not only is it talking to us too, but it’s covering up its weakness…not completely, though. If you got a good look at its eyes and mouth, you could see the glass,” [Wuzhi remarks, humming.] “Strange that the ink is gold, though…maybe it’s because most of the blot is outside the bottle? Or is that a different form of blot? Anyways, yeah. Glad you guys are somewhat okay, at least.”

[Chase clears his throat, stepping forward.] “Well, Wuzhi…do you think you could help us? You said your unique magic can absorb other people’s blot before…!”

“Oh! Yeah, that’s…a pretty good idea. If I can absorb enough blot, it’ll be forced to reveal its weakness!” [She grins, straightening up and gripping her staff tightly.] “That way, we can break it! But…the problem is getting it to stay still for long enough…it seems to be using Sadiya like a puppet, rather than the other way around…”

“Right! So we should be careful of that!”

[nrcbookclub]

“I’m as ok as someone in this situation can be..”

[Trystia tilts her head, nodding along to the formations of the plan. They’re glancing around the area for things that might be useful in this.. or environmental advantages]

“Watching out for attacks will probably be harder than expected.. especially since y’know, aforementioned puppetry of Sadiya. Sooo.. maybe a distraction of some kind..?”

[nrcsfavoriteshrimps]

“Yeah, a distraction would be good. As well as a decently-sized place to keep them in so they don’t get away…”

[Wuzhi and Chase are quiet for a few moments.]

“Maybe…the garden could work again? I mean, a classroom would be too small and dangerous, and I can’t really think of any other places…”

[Wuzhi looks over, then at her feet, deep in thought.] “…well…we’d have to evacuate your dormmates, first.”

“…right…” [Chase deflates slightly, worried again.]

“Anyways. If the two of you can provide a distraction for Sadiya, I can go after the…Whaddya call this?”

“I just started calling it an Apparition!”

“That.”

[nrcbookclub]

“I can help distract it, yeah! And probably with evacuation too.. it shouldn’t be too much of a challenge to evacuate people.. maybe. I dunno..”

[Trystia nods, looking over at the garden with newly analytical eyes. They’re trying to determine spots where they could duck behind in case of an attack..]

“Be careful while you go after it though… I don’t think we’re sure how powerful it is on it’s own.”

[nrcsfavoriteshrimps]

[Wuzhi just shrugs. She’ll figure something out.]

“Alright. We got the basics of a plan.” [She spins her staff again, an anxious habit. She’s admittedly very worried, though her experience in battle is helping her hide it.] “But…try not to hurt her too badly…if I know Sadiya, and I do, she’s gonna beat herself up for all of this. She already feels so guilty for winter break…I can’t imagine what this is gonna do to her.”

[Chase lets out a low whimpering sound, like a rejected dog. He lowers his head, too. He doesn’t know her as well as Wuzhi, Rocky, Izem, and Rusul do…but he’s heard the conversations between the Apparition and Sadiya.]

[Wuzhi looks at Chase as she puts her hair up into a bun, tying it with the teal ribbon she’s wearing.] “You sure you’re all gonna be alright?”

“…I-I’ll be fine…once she’s safe!” [Chase exclaims, steeling his resolve. He can always use his own unique magic for a power boost if he needs to.]

[nrcbookclub]

“I’ll be sure to be careful about not hurting her..”

[Trystia is still staring into the garden, though her eyes flick over at the mention of winter break. It’s only for a split second and would be practically unnoticeable if you weren’t looking for it. She’s rubbing the gem of her magic pen, having switched from one nervous fidget to another.]

“Are we ready to do this? The sooner we start the better..”

[nrcsfavoriteshrimps]

[Wuzhi nods, pulling out a strand of hair and blowing on it. Once it lands, a clone of Wuzhi is created. Wuzhi instructs it in another language, and it runs off.]

———

[Wuzhi watches as her clone runs into the gardens, followed by two flying figures. They both enter, right when the clone disappears into sparkles.]

“̴̦́?̵̦̋!̸̟͝”̶̗̒ [Sadiya’s glazed-over eyes widen in shock. She looks around quickly, both her and the Apparition’s gazes landing on the group.]

“Tsk…you two again. And you brought a little friend? How sweet.” [It says, strolling closer to Wuzhi, but not too close so that it can’t get grabbed.] “You…aren’t you lucky Sadiya doesn’t know your unique magic? From what I’ve seen, I’m sure it can be very useful…”

“Piss off.”

“Oh my! Such crass language! Didn’t your mother ever teach you better than that?” [It asks, it’s grin growing.] “Oh, that’s right…never mind then, I suppose.”

[Wuzhi flinches harshly, grip tightening on her staff as Sadiya snaps her head back. That seemed to kick her out of the trance, at least for a moment.]

“Hey, that—”

[The Apparition snaps its gaze back at her, locking eyes with Sadiya. She’s gone again. It looks back at Chase and Trystia, specifically at Chase, its eyes narrowing.]

“…attack the overblotted, Sadiya,” [It commands, waving a hand in their direction.]

“̶̥̌…̸͕͂I̶̯̊ ̸̼̀ẅ̶͕́ì̶̭ḽ̵͆l̷̙̀…̴̩͊”̵͙͋

[Sadiya lunges at the two of them. Wuzhi’s plan seems to be working, at least for now. She beckons the Apparition closer.]

“Then it’s me against you.”

[The Apparition huffs and rolls its eyes.] “Seems so.” [Then, it attacks Wuzhi.]

[Unfortunately, it has Sadiya’s fighting skill, which is very good. Fortunately, Wuzhi is still a trained soldier!]

[nrcbookclub]

[Trystia’s eyes narrow as she does a weird little roll to get out of the way of Sadiya. She has never claimed to be a gymnast, so it is obviously clumsy. She has an eye on the fight between Wuzhi and the Apparition. They trust Wuhzi, especially after seeing those fighting skills, but still.. they can’t help but worry as she rambles under her breath]

“More and more evidence towards my theory and I really wish I wasn’t being proven right about it because that had a whole load of implications..!”

[nrcsfavoriteshrimps]

[Sadiya grunts as Chase lands a blow on her, stumbling back before striking again. Chase narrowly dodges, grabbing Sadiya’s arm and tossing her into the dirt. She stands back up, not even bothering to dust herself off. The golden scarab on her chest’s wings flutter, revealing the black magestone underneath. She inhales, and as she exhales, red smoke pours from her mouth. Wuzhi notices, her gaze snapping in that direction.]

“That’s Silas’s ability! It’s not magic, how did she—?!” [She coughs, dodging an attack and shouting again,] “Hold your breath! And if you can, cover your mouth!”

[Chase holds his breath, taking the chance to hold down Sadiya while she’s still. Sadiya flails, but can’t break out. Her body is still too exhausted to fight back properly.]

[Meanwhile, the Apparition keeps attacking.] “Might wanna hurry~! It’s already been an hour since this overblot started~!” [It taunts them, chuckling.] “If you don’t hurry, you might just see another person die. You don’t want that, do you?”

[Wuzhi, covering her mouth and nose with her shirt, huffs and swings her staff at it. The Apparition dodges, grabbing the staff and throwing her. Wuzhi lands on her feet, skidding to a stop. While the Apparition is distracted with her, Wuzhi gestures for Trystia to get a swing at its head while she keeps its attention on herself.]

[nrcbookclub]

[Trystia, having done the same as Wuhzi to avoid breathing in the smoke, looks over and tightens her grip on their magic pen. They move behind the Apparition swiftly and hopefully without drawing attention to herself. They think over what to do for only a second before mildly panicking and just blasting the back of it’s head with a shot of cosmic magic]

“Oh my fucking seven, holy Fantasy-“

[nrcsfavoriteshrimps]

[The Apparition narrowly dodges, laughing as it nearly strikes Wuzhi instead. Wuzhi thankfully manages to deflect it, sending it into the sky and watching it fizzle out.]

[Huffing, she manages to sneak behind it as it stares at Trystia…]

[Placing her hand directly on the back of its head, Wuzhi, giving a smile of her own, speaks up,]

“Caught ya.”

[While the Apparition flails, Wuzhi absorbs enough blot from it to reveal the glass head. She’s shoved off before she can absorb any further, but its weakness is exposed now and it doesn’t have enough blot to cover it back up. Sighing, the Apparition looks back at Wuzhi.]

“You little shit. Fine then. We’ll play that way.”

[The air tenses as it changes form, becoming more of a monstrous bird. It picks up Sadiya with its talons, breaking her out of the ice and absorbing her into its body. Chase whimpers, stepping back in fear.]

“It can never be that easy, can it?!”

“What…?”

“̷G̸o̸ ̵o̷n̷.̸ ̶I̸’̸l̷l̵ ̵l̷e̵t̵ ̵y̶o̸u̷ ̴t̴a̸k̵e̷ ̶t̴h̵e̷ ̸f̴i̷r̴s̶t̷ ̷s̷h̸o̴t̸.̸”̴

[nrcbookclub]

[Trystia looks a little worried when the blast is dodged, relaxing when Wuzhi is able to deflect it. This worry very quickly turns to overthinking when trying to figure out what the hell to do when the gaze of the Apparition is on her. Should she attack again, or prepare for an attack?

She’s definitely overthinking it and looks relieved when Wuzhi gets it. They grin when it’s blot is absorbed, though the feeling of victory is short lived as they watch in horror as Sadiya is absorbed]

“What the actual fuck..? Is- oh thats.. oh seven.”

[nrcsfavoriteshrimps]

[Wuzhi whistles, and a golden cloud flies down from the sky.]

[She pulls the two other students onto the cloud quickly. It’s sturdy enough to keep the others on!] “Hold on tight, we’re goin’ UP!” [She flies them into the air. The clouds snugly wrap around the group, keeping them from falling.]

[The apparition laughs. The outline of Sadiya can be seen within its torso, now unconscious. It dives at them to strike, but Chase uses a blot-created claw to block it and strike it. It falters, but is still flying.]

“̴G̴o̵o̵d̷ ̷s̸h̵o̸t̴,̶ ̴l̵i̷t̵t̵l̶e̵ ̵m̵u̴t̴t̴!̶ ̸B̸u̷t̴ ̴n̷o̸t̶ ̴e̸n̶o̸u̶g̵h̷!̴”̸

[Wuzhi’s eyes narrow as she glances back at the two, making sure that Chase and Trystia are okay. She starts analyzing it, looking for the right time to strike while avoiding harming Sadiya.]

[nrcbookclub]

[Trystia squeaks at the sudden flight, opting to ignore that reaction in favor of keeping an eye out for any more attacks. Just in case. They don’t speak at all, unsure what to say, if anything at all, in this moment. She does have a tight grip on her magic pen, to not be caught off guard again]

[nrcsfavoriteshrimps]

[Chase perks up suddenly, pointing at the apparition.]

“The wings! Go for the wings!”

[Wuzhi nods, gripping her staff.] “We still gotta be careful, though…Sadiya’s still in there..”

[The Apparition screeches as it swoops down, but this time, Chase knows where to swipe. He scratches his claw at the Apparition’s wing, causing it to scream out in pain and fly back. This makes Chase falter, though…that scream sounded just like Sadiya.]

[Wuzhi picks up the pace, extending her staff to poke holes in its wings. It’s forced to fill those holes back up with its blot, slowly lowering itself to the ground. Still, it keeps attacking, its enraged state blinding it.]

[nrcbookclub]

[Trystia has shot off a few plant based spells of her own at the wings, using thorns to try and tear at them. Her face is one of grim determination and slight worry about where the thorns land. They don’t want to hurt Sadiya. She mumbles, not really to anyone but just to say a thought]

“Carefully attacking something is not something I can say I’ve done before..”

[nrcbookclub]

[Shadows loom over the school campus as a large pair of wings block out the sun. Various students on campus are panicking. Some have a familiar collar around their necks. Others have a glass over their eyes, stumbling back to their dorms. Ink-stained feathers are scattered across the campus.]

[Several students, particularly the ones who have overblotted, get a notification pop-up, sort of like a video game system.]

Do you regret it?

✅/❌

— @nrcsfavoriteshrimps

(sorry if this isn’t very good, I had a bit of trouble with this ;-; /lh)

[Trystia is sat in the library, as she usually is, but this time it’s different. It’s clear they’re trying to figure out what’s going on while staying in what she assumes will be a safe space, at least for now. There’s a few books around on the table she was working at, abandoned as they moved to a more secluded area to hide until there was a determination of whether or not it was safe to move out of the area. Trystia is hoping it’s not an overblot, but knowing how this school is.. it’s probably an overblot.]

“..huh? What the- who’s messaging me? Fuck I hope the others are…”

[Trystia’s voice trails off as she notices something. The notification. Regret. She regrets a lot of things, but what could it be referring to? And if it was an overblot, why would they be asking her that..?

They choose the checkmark option. After a few seconds of deliberation, of course. It’s probably the safest option. Hopefully.]

you’re all good! sorry it took so long to respond, i decided to go to bed at 3 am on one of my last school nights and then crashed as soon as i got home </3

[nrcsfavoriteshrimps]

[The pop-up disappears, though the eerie air remains. Outside the window, a figure flies down from the main building to the botanical gardens.]

[A trail of feathers and ink are left behind. On the ground, a different winged figure, completely blot-colored, looks up with piercing gold eyes. It smiles, then disappears.]

[How odd.]

[nrcbookclub]

[Trystia watches the figure, having noticed it out of the corner of her eyes.

Sevens fucking damnit. Another overblot.

Their eyes trail towards the botanical gardens, considering. And Trystia, ever the bleeding heart, gets up and begins to move. Move towards the gardens that hold another overblotted student. Because she doesn’t want the school to get destroyed or something. Counterproductive considering she kinda lives here every part of the year but summer]

“Alright. This is fine. Normal even, considering this fucking school.”

[She’s in denial]

[nrcsfavoriteshrimps]

———

[In the gardens, a few people are scattered about. Chase is there, ducking behind some large leaves.]

“H-Hey, over here!” [he whispers out, eyes wide with terror. He waves them over hurriedly.] “Do you know what’s going on?! Why did Sadiya go cuckoo?!”

[Sadiya seems to be calmly walking around, though there’s a stumble to her steps. The apparition appears behind her, whispering something they can’t hear from where they are. Sadiya looks towards the direction of the apparition, and for a moment, her eyes seem clear. Still crying. Her eyes full of regret and shame. Then, she’s gone again, her eyes glazed back over and narrowing.]

“̵̥̩̽̔̃͗͝T̶̺̮͈̲́͘h̵̛̤ͅé̸̘͘ȳ̶̮̳͊́ ̷͕̳̘̇̏̃́͠f̸̭̏̋͊́ő̵̢̲̠̗̊͒l̵̪̄͘ļ̷͓̝́ö̷̙͍̰̠́̇̏̕w̴̦̎e̸͍̣̯̮̔̂͑͝ḓ̶̳̿?̴̙̗̚”̴̡̛̲̹͓̽͑̋ [Her voice comes out distorted and echoed.]

[The apparition seems to smile as it speaks,] “Indeed they did…they said they regretted it, but…can you be so sure?” [Its words make Sadiya pause.]

“̵͎́…̶̗̾ē̸̝v̶̗̽e̶̙͘ȓ̶̰y̶͍͝o̴͕̍n̵̥͂ē̴̺ ̴́͜ŝ̸̩a̴̘͌y̷͓͆ș̷̅ ̷̻̉t̴̜̓h̷̭̿a̷̲͊t̵͖͝…̷̡͗ḍ̸̃ó̵̫ ̶͓̀t̴̤̚h̸̻̿e̶̗̋y̶̳͆ ̴̯̿ḿ̴͔è̶̙a̴̬̔n̴͇͆ ̴̦̕i̵̫͠t̴͍̅…̵̫̀?̴̱̊”̷̼̋

“You know what…I don’t think they do. Shouldn’t you teach them a lesson?”

[Sadiya is quiet for a while.] “̴͙̈́…̴̡̑f̶̗̑i̶̥̍ń̵͙d̵̠̾ ̶͍̄ť̵̨ḫ̴͐e̵̯͘m̵̢̈́.̵̫̂”̵̣̎

“Of course, dear host…”

[The Apparition disappears again.]

[Chase’s ears are pointed back, tail between his legs. He’s trying to muffle his terrified sobs, barely managing to do so.]

“Sadiya, she…she wouldn’t do this willingly…s-someone has to be controlling her…right?”

[nrcbookclub]

[Trystia’s head snaps towards the other student surprisingly fast, and she seems to be trying to remember Chase’s name. After a few seconds she ends up standing near him, also hiding. They look at Sadiya for a second, brows furrowed as they just.. observe for a second, before turning to Chase]

“Uh.. Chase, right? I.. think she’s overblotted… but I’m trying to convince myself it’s not one because those are kind of a pain. For everyone involved. But first things first, are you ok?”

[She has clearly taken note of his terrified state, and is also cataloging the cries of the plants around her. Although they’re also trying to not panic, it’s clear Trystia is pretty good at keeping calm]

“You look… terrified. Or very scared, if you want a lighter term..”

[nrcsfavoriteshrimps]

“N-No, terrified is right…Sadiya is one of my closest friends…she wouldn’t…she isn’t…” [Chase explains, whimpering quietly.] “I’m worried about her…it’s kinda weird to say but this smells…different than the other overblots. Thicker…I think…?”

[While Sadiya stumbles to the far side of the garden, a trail of feathers is left behind. The apparition walks in the opposite direction. While Sadiya walks more like she’s being dragged, the apparition walks with purpose and focus. It hums, like it’s playing. But it isn’t. It’s hunting.]

“Now now, dear friends…why must you hide? I’m sure we could find a way to talk about things~!”

“That thing…” [Chase whispers,] “…it’s like it’s the one controlling her…not the other way around…”

[nrcbookclub]

[Trystia watches Sadiya and the apparition, both to analyze and keep an eye on the possible danger. She’s begun to whisper as well]

“…yeah. It looks different to me too. Plus the whole ‘do you regret it’ pop up… this is a weird overblot, that’s for sure.”

[They jump a bit at the sound of the voice, nodding along to Chase’s.. statement? Theory? Whatever it was, Trystia agrees. They have a hand on their magic pen, just in case]

“It definitely seems like that.. and the way it moves reminds me of some of the predator animals I’ve seen..”

[nrcsfavoriteshrimps]

[Chase sniffs the air, his eyes widening as he covers his mouth with his hands. The Apparition strolls behind them, seeming to giggle as it approaches.]

[Once it passes, Chase looks over.] “W-We might need backup…if this thing is this coherent, I don’t think the two of us are gonna be enough…” [he whimpers as he looks around for anybody else.] “W-Who else could we try to find…? Who else could even help…?”

[The apparition walks by again. It seems to be circling them, like a shark in the water. It knows they’re there. It’s just waiting for the perfect time to strike.]

[nrcbookclub]

[Trystia tenses, grip on her magic pen tightening, as the apparition gets closer. She nods silently while trying to think of a person who could help..]

“I- I don’t know.. I definitely agree we need help, two vs two-ish with a sentient thing during an overblot is a bad match up. And I’m down my unique magic..”

[The last part is said near silently, as they continue to watch the apparition and mentally prepare for a conflict between this thing and themself]

“I could send a message for the book club group chat, but I don’t know if any of them would get here in time..”

[nrcsfavoriteshrimps]

[Luckily for the duo, the Apparition is suddenly attacked by a winged figure. Is…is that Sadiya?! Fighting her own phantom?! Whatever’s happening, it gives Chase enough time to grab Trystia’s hands and drag her out of the garden.]

[Once outside, Chase huffs in exhaustion from the sudden sprint. From the windows, he sees the Apparition gripping Sadiya’s face, forcing her to look it in the eyes. The glass is cracked, so he can hear what’s being said:]

“Do you REALLY think they’ll EVER forgive you?!”

“N-No, but I—”

“YOU were the one that let your blot grow so much! It’s been building up all YEAR, and you didn’t do a thing about it?!”

“I didn’t want them to worry—”

“Oh, they’re not gonna worry. They’re gonna DESPISE you!!! You overblotted! You’re causing damage right now! Sevens, you’re just the scum of Twisted Wonderland, aren’t you?”

“You…”

“Did it finally click for you? That’s right. Since you kept your emotions bottled up for so long, and thanks to that magic of yours…I have control. You built up so much, I have POWER! I’m more than just your phantom…”

[The phantom’s eyes pulse. It seems like it’s using Snake Whisper…on Sadiya…and unlike Winter Break, it’s working.]

“I am the embodiment of your regrets and fears. Your guilt personified. I’ll make you hurt the ones you love, just so you feel worse. So that I get stronger. Because you’ll never be able to repent. You’ll never be forgiven. You will never be seen as good in the eyes of the Great Seven.”

“…”

“You’re the one that carries the weight of their guilt, because none of them can feel it. None of them suffer like you do. They deserve to suffer, just like you are right now.”

“̸̡̟̇̀̋…̸̤̈́I̶̧͈̮͠…̴̗̞̏̆͐”̶̬̹̮̐̆

“G o m a k e t h e m r e g r e t i t M O R E.”

“̴̡̲̻̇…̷̬͋͋̃͠I̵͉̙̥͂͛̅̏ ̴͍̲̼͉̼̖͛̀̉̽͗w̷͈̓͒̍ḯ̴̩͇̟̻̟̞̒̑l̷̛̩͉̋͠l̶̛̙̑͌͒…̴̨̻̦͛͗͝”̶̫̩́̈́͊̎̚͝

[Chase backs away from the glass, looking at the other student.] “Did you…hear it…? I-It was talking to her…telling her…”

[nrcbookclub]

[Trystia watches the situation at hand with wide eyes before flinching away from the glass at the sound of yelling. The familiar pulse of Snake Whisper has them stifling a gasp with her hand, looking towards Chase and simply nodding. After a few seconds of struggle, they speak again]

“I- I did.. it’s making her fight, I think. Make them regret..”

[She pinches her arm, a nervous habit, brows furrowed as they try to think. Their eyes widen at the end of the sentence they speak next]

“Regret, regret.. it keeps mentioning regret. What could it- oh shit.”

[nrcsfavoriteshrimps]

“W-What? What did you realize?!” [Chase asks, going to take a step forward. But his knees give out, and he falls to the ground.]

[He covers his mouth with his hands, suddenly feeling sick. This isn’t good.]

“What are we gonna do…?”

[nrcbookclub]

“Regret.. maybe related to overblots..? I can’t entirely explain my thought process but I just- it would make sense… I think.”

[Trystia startles when Chase falls, quickly doing a visual check of if he’s hurt]

“Right now..? Make sure we don’t like.. die. But long term, we need to make sure Sadiya like.. how do you phrase it? Snaps out of it. Reach out for help too maybe?”

[nrcsfavoriteshrimps]

[Chase thinks for a long moment, before suddenly perking up. He reaches for his phone, calling a certain contact that they can’t see from that angle.] “I-I know someone I can call!”

“五指！你能到植物园外面来一趟吗？很紧急！” [He seems to be speaking in a language one might recognize as this world’s Mandarin.] “是的！谢谢！”

[He turns to the other student, smiling.] “She’s on her way! We should hide now—”

[nrcbookclub]

“Oh, that’s good!”

[Trystia simply watches while Chase makes the call, shoulders un-tensing a bit in relief when Chase confirms help is on the way. They’re quick to find a place to hide from Sadiya and the blot monster]

“Who did you call? And thank you, for calling someone…”

[nrcsfavoriteshrimps]

“Just a friend of mine! She’s more suited to deal with others’ blot than I am…”

[Just a few moments after they hide, the Apparition approaches.]

“I know you’re there.”

[Chase slaps his hands over his mouth again. The Apparition strolls by the bush, its grin growing.]

“Why don’t you come on out? It’ll be so much easier…”

[It stops right in front of them.]

“There you—”

[WHACK!!!!]

[The sound of glass cracking is heard when a staff meets the Apparition’s head. It lands with a thud, looking up at the new person and growling.]

“You little—”

“A BA BA BA!” [Ai Wuzhi cuts the Apparition off.] “I was having a VERY NICE nap, and when I wake up? There’s a fuckin’ overblot?! Fuck off!”

[She goes to swing her staff again, but the Apparition dodges. In an instant, it gets up and flies away, clearly angry.]

“Wuzhi!” [Chase squeals, hopping out of the bush with his tail wagging.] “You made it!”

“Yeah…you’re lucky there was a good reason to wake me up.” [Wuzhi sighs, spinning her staff around before leaning on it.]

[Chase giggles. A moment of calm before the storm.]

[nrcbookclub]

[Trystia appears to be trying to make herself smaller, to hide better from the apparition. She looks up at it for the split second before it gets absolutely fucking whacked. They look shocked and relieved after it flies away, getting up much slower than Chase to greet Wuzhi]

“Thank the seven you arrived in time… and thank you for coming to help us. I doubt we could have done this just the two of us...”

[They give a small smile to Wuhzi]

“And that was pretty cool too.. soo..”

[nrcsfavoriteshrimps]

“Yeah, uh…thanks,” [she says, somewhat bashful.] “So uh…would either of you care to give me a rundown of what happened?”

“W-Well…um…” [Chase hesitates, looking over at Trystia for help.] “…?”

[nrcbookclub]

“Well.. Sadiya had overblotted. It’s a bit different though, the.. apparition that you whacked is much more in control than I’ve ever seen..”

[Trystia trails off before adding on another thing. They’ve been twirling a strand of hair around their finger this whole time]

“And I got a notification about regretting something earlier, which is what prompted me to come here. And Chase called you to help us deal with this and make sure nobody gets too hurt.”

[nrcsfavoriteshrimps]

“Tsk…” [Wuzhi clicks her tongue, putting a hand on her hip while tapping her foot.] “Goddamn overblots…always at the worst times…”

[It seems like she’s locking in…]

“This one is definitely smarter than the others…not only is it talking to us too, but it’s covering up its weakness…not completely, though. If you got a good look at its eyes and mouth, you could see the glass,” [Wuzhi remarks, humming.] “Strange that the ink is gold, though…maybe it’s because most of the blot is outside the bottle? Or is that a different form of blot? Anyways, yeah. Glad you guys are somewhat okay, at least.”

[Chase clears his throat, stepping forward.] “Well, Wuzhi…do you think you could help us? You said your unique magic can absorb other people’s blot before…!”

“Oh! Yeah, that’s…a pretty good idea. If I can absorb enough blot, it’ll be forced to reveal its weakness!” [She grins, straightening up and gripping her staff tightly.] “That way, we can break it! But…the problem is getting it to stay still for long enough…it seems to be using Sadiya like a puppet, rather than the other way around…”

“Right! So we should be careful of that!”

[nrcbookclub]

“I’m as ok as someone in this situation can be..”

[Trystia tilts her head, nodding along to the formations of the plan. They’re glancing around the area for things that might be useful in this.. or environmental advantages]

“Watching out for attacks will probably be harder than expected.. especially since y’know, aforementioned puppetry of Sadiya. Sooo.. maybe a distraction of some kind..?”

[nrcsfavoriteshrimps]

“Yeah, a distraction would be good. As well as a decently-sized place to keep them in so they don’t get away…”

[Wuzhi and Chase are quiet for a few moments.]

“Maybe…the garden could work again? I mean, a classroom would be too small and dangerous, and I can’t really think of any other places…”

[Wuzhi looks over, then at her feet, deep in thought.] “…well…we’d have to evacuate your dormmates, first.”

“…right…” [Chase deflates slightly, worried again.]

“Anyways. If the two of you can provide a distraction for Sadiya, I can go after the…Whaddya call this?”

“I just started calling it an Apparition!”

“That.”

[nrcbookclub]

“I can help distract it, yeah! And probably with evacuation too.. it shouldn’t be too much of a challenge to evacuate people.. maybe. I dunno..”

[Trystia nods, looking over at the garden with newly analytical eyes. They’re trying to determine spots where they could duck behind in case of an attack..]

“Be careful while you go after it though… I don’t think we’re sure how powerful it is on it’s own.”

[nrcsfavoriteshrimps]

[Wuzhi just shrugs. She’ll figure something out.]

“Alright. We got the basics of a plan.” [She spins her staff again, an anxious habit. She’s admittedly very worried, though her experience in battle is helping her hide it.] “But…try not to hurt her too badly…if I know Sadiya, and I do, she’s gonna beat herself up for all of this. She already feels so guilty for winter break…I can’t imagine what this is gonna do to her.”

[Chase lets out a low whimpering sound, like a rejected dog. He lowers his head, too. He doesn’t know her as well as Wuzhi, Rocky, Izem, and Rusul do…but he’s heard the conversations between the Apparition and Sadiya.]

[Wuzhi looks at Chase as she puts her hair up into a bun, tying it with the teal ribbon she’s wearing.] “You sure you’re all gonna be alright?”

“…I-I’ll be fine…once she’s safe!” [Chase exclaims, steeling his resolve. He can always use his own unique magic for a power boost if he needs to.]

[nrcbookclub]

“I’ll be sure to be careful about not hurting her..”

[Trystia is still staring into the garden, though her eyes flick over at the mention of winter break. It’s only for a split second and would be practically unnoticeable if you weren’t looking for it. She’s rubbing the gem of her magic pen, having switched from one nervous fidget to another.]

“Are we ready to do this? The sooner we start the better..”

[nrcsfavoriteshrimps]

[Wuzhi nods, pulling out a strand of hair and blowing on it. Once it lands, a clone of Wuzhi is created. Wuzhi instructs it in another language, and it runs off.]

———

[Wuzhi watches as her clone runs into the gardens, followed by two flying figures. They both enter, right when the clone disappears into sparkles.]

“̴̦́?̵̦̋!̸̟͝”̶̗̒ [Sadiya’s glazed-over eyes widen in shock. She looks around quickly, both her and the Apparition’s gazes landing on the group.]

“Tsk…you two again. And you brought a little friend? How sweet.” [It says, strolling closer to Wuzhi, but not too close so that it can’t get grabbed.] “You…aren’t you lucky Sadiya doesn’t know your unique magic? From what I’ve seen, I’m sure it can be very useful…”

“Piss off.”

“Oh my! Such crass language! Didn’t your mother ever teach you better than that?” [It asks, it’s grin growing.] “Oh, that’s right…never mind then, I suppose.”

[Wuzhi flinches harshly, grip tightening on her staff as Sadiya snaps her head back. That seemed to kick her out of the trance, at least for a moment.]

“Hey, that—”

[The Apparition snaps its gaze back at her, locking eyes with Sadiya. She’s gone again. It looks back at Chase and Trystia, specifically at Chase, its eyes narrowing.]

“…attack the overblotted, Sadiya,” [It commands, waving a hand in their direction.]

“̶̥̌…̸͕͂I̶̯̊ ̸̼̀ẅ̶͕́ì̶̭ḽ̵͆l̷̙̀…̴̩͊”̵͙͋

[Sadiya lunges at the two of them. Wuzhi’s plan seems to be working, at least for now. She beckons the Apparition closer.]

“Then it’s me against you.”

[The Apparition huffs and rolls its eyes.] “Seems so.” [Then, it attacks Wuzhi.]

[Unfortunately, it has Sadiya’s fighting skill, which is very good. Fortunately, Wuzhi is still a trained soldier!]

[nrcbookclub]

[Trystia’s eyes narrow as she does a weird little roll to get out of the way of Sadiya. She has never claimed to be a gymnast, so it is obviously clumsy. She has an eye on the fight between Wuzhi and the Apparition. They trust Wuhzi, especially after seeing those fighting skills, but still.. they can’t help but worry as she rambles under her breath]

“More and more evidence towards my theory and I really wish I wasn’t being proven right about it because that had a whole load of implications..!”

[nrcsfavoriteshrimps]

[Sadiya grunts as Chase lands a blow on her, stumbling back before striking again. Chase narrowly dodges, grabbing Sadiya’s arm and tossing her into the dirt. She stands back up, not even bothering to dust herself off. The golden scarab on her chest’s wings flutter, revealing the black magestone underneath. She inhales, and as she exhales, red smoke pours from her mouth. Wuzhi notices, her gaze snapping in that direction.]

“That’s Silas’s ability! It’s not magic, how did she—?!” [She coughs, dodging an attack and shouting again,] “Hold your breath! And if you can, cover your mouth!”

[Chase holds his breath, taking the chance to hold down Sadiya while she’s still. Sadiya flails, but can’t break out. Her body is still too exhausted to fight back properly.]

[Meanwhile, the Apparition keeps attacking.] “Might wanna hurry~! It’s already been an hour since this overblot started~!” [It taunts them, chuckling.] “If you don’t hurry, you might just see another person die. You don’t want that, do you?”

[Wuzhi, covering her mouth and nose with her shirt, huffs and swings her staff at it. The Apparition dodges, grabbing the staff and throwing her. Wuzhi lands on her feet, skidding to a stop. While the Apparition is distracted with her, Wuzhi gestures for Trystia to get a swing at its head while she keeps its attention on herself.]

[nrcbookclub]

[Trystia, having done the same as Wuhzi to avoid breathing in the smoke, looks over and tightens her grip on their magic pen. They move behind the Apparition swiftly and hopefully without drawing attention to herself. They think over what to do for only a second before mildly panicking and just blasting the back of it’s head with a shot of cosmic magic]

“Oh my fucking seven, holy Fantasy-“

[nrcsfavoriteshrimps]

[The Apparition narrowly dodges, laughing as it nearly strikes Wuzhi instead. Wuzhi thankfully manages to deflect it, sending it into the sky and watching it fizzle out.]

[Huffing, she manages to sneak behind it as it stares at Trystia…]

[Placing her hand directly on the back of its head, Wuzhi, giving a smile of her own, speaks up,]

“Caught ya.”

[While the Apparition flails, Wuzhi absorbs enough blot from it to reveal the glass head. She’s shoved off before she can absorb any further, but its weakness is exposed now and it doesn’t have enough blot to cover it back up. Sighing, the Apparition looks back at Wuzhi.]

“You little shit. Fine then. We’ll play that way.”

[The air tenses as it changes form, becoming more of a monstrous bird. It picks up Sadiya with its talons, breaking her out of the ice and absorbing her into its body. Chase whimpers, stepping back in fear.]

“It can never be that easy, can it?!”

“What…?”

“̷G̸o̸ ̵o̷n̷.̸ ̶I̸’̸l̷l̵ ̵l̷e̵t̵ ̵y̶o̸u̷ ̴t̴a̸k̵e̷ ̶t̴h̵e̷ ̸f̴i̷r̴s̶t̷ ̷s̷h̸o̴t̸.̸”̴

[nrcbookclub]

[Trystia looks a little worried when the blast is dodged, relaxing when Wuzhi is able to deflect it. This worry very quickly turns to overthinking when trying to figure out what the hell to do when the gaze of the Apparition is on her. Should she attack again, or prepare for an attack?

She’s definitely overthinking it and looks relieved when Wuzhi gets it. They grin when it’s blot is absorbed, though the feeling of victory is short lived as they watch in horror as Sadiya is absorbed]

“What the actual fuck..? Is- oh thats.. oh seven.”

[nrcsfavoriteshrimps]

[Wuzhi whistles, and a golden cloud flies down from the sky.]

[She pulls the two other students onto the cloud quickly. It’s sturdy enough to keep the others on!] “Hold on tight, we’re goin’ UP!” [She flies them into the air. The clouds snugly wrap around the group, keeping them from falling.]

[The apparition laughs. The outline of Sadiya can be seen within its torso, now unconscious. It dives at them to strike, but Chase uses a blot-created claw to block it and strike it. It falters, but is still flying.]

“̴G̴o̵o̵d̷ ̷s̸h̵o̸t̴,̶ ̴l̵i̷t̵t̵l̶e̵ ̵m̵u̴t̴t̴!̶ ̸B̸u̷t̴ ̴n̷o̸t̶ ̴e̸n̶o̸u̶g̵h̷!̴”̸

[Wuzhi’s eyes narrow as she glances back at the two, making sure that Chase and Trystia are okay. She starts analyzing it, looking for the right time to strike while avoiding harming Sadiya.]

[nrcbookclub]

[Trystia squeaks at the sudden flight, opting to ignore that reaction in favor of keeping an eye out for any more attacks. Just in case. They don’t speak at all, unsure what to say, if anything at all, in this moment. She does have a tight grip on her magic pen, to not be caught off guard again]

[nrcbookclub]

[Shadows loom over the school campus as a large pair of wings block out the sun. Various students on campus are panicking. Some have a familiar collar around their necks. Others have a glass over their eyes, stumbling back to their dorms. Ink-stained feathers are scattered across the campus.]

[Several students, particularly the ones who have overblotted, get a notification pop-up, sort of like a video game system.]

Do you regret it?

✅/❌

— @nrcsfavoriteshrimps

(sorry if this isn’t very good, I had a bit of trouble with this ;-; /lh)

[Trystia is sat in the library, as she usually is, but this time it’s different. It’s clear they’re trying to figure out what’s going on while staying in what she assumes will be a safe space, at least for now. There’s a few books around on the table she was working at, abandoned as they moved to a more secluded area to hide until there was a determination of whether or not it was safe to move out of the area. Trystia is hoping it’s not an overblot, but knowing how this school is.. it’s probably an overblot.]

“..huh? What the- who’s messaging me? Fuck I hope the others are…”

[Trystia’s voice trails off as she notices something. The notification. Regret. She regrets a lot of things, but what could it be referring to? And if it was an overblot, why would they be asking her that..?

They choose the checkmark option. After a few seconds of deliberation, of course. It’s probably the safest option. Hopefully.]

you’re all good! sorry it took so long to respond, i decided to go to bed at 3 am on one of my last school nights and then crashed as soon as i got home </3

[nrcsfavoriteshrimps]

[The pop-up disappears, though the eerie air remains. Outside the window, a figure flies down from the main building to the botanical gardens.]

[A trail of feathers and ink are left behind. On the ground, a different winged figure, completely blot-colored, looks up with piercing gold eyes. It smiles, then disappears.]

[How odd.]

[nrcbookclub]

[Trystia watches the figure, having noticed it out of the corner of her eyes.

Sevens fucking damnit. Another overblot.

Their eyes trail towards the botanical gardens, considering. And Trystia, ever the bleeding heart, gets up and begins to move. Move towards the gardens that hold another overblotted student. Because she doesn’t want the school to get destroyed or something. Counterproductive considering she kinda lives here every part of the year but summer]

“Alright. This is fine. Normal even, considering this fucking school.”

[She’s in denial]

[nrcsfavoriteshrimps]

———

[In the gardens, a few people are scattered about. Chase is there, ducking behind some large leaves.]

“H-Hey, over here!” [he whispers out, eyes wide with terror. He waves them over hurriedly.] “Do you know what’s going on?! Why did Sadiya go cuckoo?!”

[Sadiya seems to be calmly walking around, though there’s a stumble to her steps. The apparition appears behind her, whispering something they can’t hear from where they are. Sadiya looks towards the direction of the apparition, and for a moment, her eyes seem clear. Still crying. Her eyes full of regret and shame. Then, she’s gone again, her eyes glazed back over and narrowing.]

“̵̥̩̽̔̃͗͝T̶̺̮͈̲́͘h̵̛̤ͅé̸̘͘ȳ̶̮̳͊́ ̷͕̳̘̇̏̃́͠f̸̭̏̋͊́ő̵̢̲̠̗̊͒l̵̪̄͘ļ̷͓̝́ö̷̙͍̰̠́̇̏̕w̴̦̎e̸͍̣̯̮̔̂͑͝ḓ̶̳̿?̴̙̗̚”̴̡̛̲̹͓̽͑̋ [Her voice comes out distorted and echoed.]

[The apparition seems to smile as it speaks,] “Indeed they did…they said they regretted it, but…can you be so sure?” [Its words make Sadiya pause.]

“̵͎́…̶̗̾ē̸̝v̶̗̽e̶̙͘ȓ̶̰y̶͍͝o̴͕̍n̵̥͂ē̴̺ ̴́͜ŝ̸̩a̴̘͌y̷͓͆ș̷̅ ̷̻̉t̴̜̓h̷̭̿a̷̲͊t̵͖͝…̷̡͗ḍ̸̃ó̵̫ ̶͓̀t̴̤̚h̸̻̿e̶̗̋y̶̳͆ ̴̯̿ḿ̴͔è̶̙a̴̬̔n̴͇͆ ̴̦̕i̵̫͠t̴͍̅…̵̫̀?̴̱̊”̷̼̋

“You know what…I don’t think they do. Shouldn’t you teach them a lesson?”

[Sadiya is quiet for a while.] “̴͙̈́…̴̡̑f̶̗̑i̶̥̍ń̵͙d̵̠̾ ̶͍̄ť̵̨ḫ̴͐e̵̯͘m̵̢̈́.̵̫̂”̵̣̎

“Of course, dear host…”

[The Apparition disappears again.]

[Chase’s ears are pointed back, tail between his legs. He’s trying to muffle his terrified sobs, barely managing to do so.]

“Sadiya, she…she wouldn’t do this willingly…s-someone has to be controlling her…right?”

[nrcbookclub]

[Trystia’s head snaps towards the other student surprisingly fast, and she seems to be trying to remember Chase’s name. After a few seconds she ends up standing near him, also hiding. They look at Sadiya for a second, brows furrowed as they just.. observe for a second, before turning to Chase]

“Uh.. Chase, right? I.. think she’s overblotted… but I’m trying to convince myself it’s not one because those are kind of a pain. For everyone involved. But first things first, are you ok?”

[She has clearly taken note of his terrified state, and is also cataloging the cries of the plants around her. Although they’re also trying to not panic, it’s clear Trystia is pretty good at keeping calm]

“You look… terrified. Or very scared, if you want a lighter term..”

[nrcsfavoriteshrimps]

“N-No, terrified is right…Sadiya is one of my closest friends…she wouldn’t…she isn’t…” [Chase explains, whimpering quietly.] “I’m worried about her…it’s kinda weird to say but this smells…different than the other overblots. Thicker…I think…?”

[While Sadiya stumbles to the far side of the garden, a trail of feathers is left behind. The apparition walks in the opposite direction. While Sadiya walks more like she’s being dragged, the apparition walks with purpose and focus. It hums, like it’s playing. But it isn’t. It’s hunting.]

“Now now, dear friends…why must you hide? I’m sure we could find a way to talk about things~!”

“That thing…” [Chase whispers,] “…it’s like it’s the one controlling her…not the other way around…”

[nrcbookclub]

[Trystia watches Sadiya and the apparition, both to analyze and keep an eye on the possible danger. She’s begun to whisper as well]

“…yeah. It looks different to me too. Plus the whole ‘do you regret it’ pop up… this is a weird overblot, that’s for sure.”

[They jump a bit at the sound of the voice, nodding along to Chase’s.. statement? Theory? Whatever it was, Trystia agrees. They have a hand on their magic pen, just in case]

“It definitely seems like that.. and the way it moves reminds me of some of the predator animals I’ve seen..”

[nrcsfavoriteshrimps]

[Chase sniffs the air, his eyes widening as he covers his mouth with his hands. The Apparition strolls behind them, seeming to giggle as it approaches.]

[Once it passes, Chase looks over.] “W-We might need backup…if this thing is this coherent, I don’t think the two of us are gonna be enough…” [he whimpers as he looks around for anybody else.] “W-Who else could we try to find…? Who else could even help…?”

[The apparition walks by again. It seems to be circling them, like a shark in the water. It knows they’re there. It’s just waiting for the perfect time to strike.]

[nrcbookclub]

[Trystia tenses, grip on her magic pen tightening, as the apparition gets closer. She nods silently while trying to think of a person who could help..]

“I- I don’t know.. I definitely agree we need help, two vs two-ish with a sentient thing during an overblot is a bad match up. And I’m down my unique magic..”

[The last part is said near silently, as they continue to watch the apparition and mentally prepare for a conflict between this thing and themself]

“I could send a message for the book club group chat, but I don’t know if any of them would get here in time..”

[nrcsfavoriteshrimps]

[Luckily for the duo, the Apparition is suddenly attacked by a winged figure. Is…is that Sadiya?! Fighting her own phantom?! Whatever’s happening, it gives Chase enough time to grab Trystia’s hands and drag her out of the garden.]

[Once outside, Chase huffs in exhaustion from the sudden sprint. From the windows, he sees the Apparition gripping Sadiya’s face, forcing her to look it in the eyes. The glass is cracked, so he can hear what’s being said:]

“Do you REALLY think they’ll EVER forgive you?!”

“N-No, but I—”

“YOU were the one that let your blot grow so much! It’s been building up all YEAR, and you didn’t do a thing about it?!”

“I didn’t want them to worry—”

“Oh, they’re not gonna worry. They’re gonna DESPISE you!!! You overblotted! You’re causing damage right now! Sevens, you’re just the scum of Twisted Wonderland, aren’t you?”

“You…”

“Did it finally click for you? That’s right. Since you kept your emotions bottled up for so long, and thanks to that magic of yours…I have control. You built up so much, I have POWER! I’m more than just your phantom…”

[The phantom’s eyes pulse. It seems like it’s using Snake Whisper…on Sadiya…and unlike Winter Break, it’s working.]

“I am the embodiment of your regrets and fears. Your guilt personified. I’ll make you hurt the ones you love, just so you feel worse. So that I get stronger. Because you’ll never be able to repent. You’ll never be forgiven. You will never be seen as good in the eyes of the Great Seven.”

“…”

“You’re the one that carries the weight of their guilt, because none of them can feel it. None of them suffer like you do. They deserve to suffer, just like you are right now.”

“̸̡̟̇̀̋…̸̤̈́I̶̧͈̮͠…̴̗̞̏̆͐”̶̬̹̮̐̆

“G o m a k e t h e m r e g r e t i t M O R E.”

“̴̡̲̻̇…̷̬͋͋̃͠I̵͉̙̥͂͛̅̏ ̴͍̲̼͉̼̖͛̀̉̽͗w̷͈̓͒̍ḯ̴̩͇̟̻̟̞̒̑l̷̛̩͉̋͠l̶̛̙̑͌͒…̴̨̻̦͛͗͝”̶̫̩́̈́͊̎̚͝

[Chase backs away from the glass, looking at the other student.] “Did you…hear it…? I-It was talking to her…telling her…”

[nrcbookclub]

[Trystia watches the situation at hand with wide eyes before flinching away from the glass at the sound of yelling. The familiar pulse of Snake Whisper has them stifling a gasp with her hand, looking towards Chase and simply nodding. After a few seconds of struggle, they speak again]

“I- I did.. it’s making her fight, I think. Make them regret..”

[She pinches her arm, a nervous habit, brows furrowed as they try to think. Their eyes widen at the end of the sentence they speak next]

“Regret, regret.. it keeps mentioning regret. What could it- oh shit.”

[nrcsfavoriteshrimps]

“W-What? What did you realize?!” [Chase asks, going to take a step forward. But his knees give out, and he falls to the ground.]

[He covers his mouth with his hands, suddenly feeling sick. This isn’t good.]

“What are we gonna do…?”

[nrcbookclub]

“Regret.. maybe related to overblots..? I can’t entirely explain my thought process but I just- it would make sense… I think.”

[Trystia startles when Chase falls, quickly doing a visual check of if he’s hurt]

“Right now..? Make sure we don’t like.. die. But long term, we need to make sure Sadiya like.. how do you phrase it? Snaps out of it. Reach out for help too maybe?”

[nrcsfavoriteshrimps]

[Chase thinks for a long moment, before suddenly perking up. He reaches for his phone, calling a certain contact that they can’t see from that angle.] “I-I know someone I can call!”

“五指！你能到植物园外面来一趟吗？很紧急！” [He seems to be speaking in a language one might recognize as this world’s Mandarin.] “是的！谢谢！”

[He turns to the other student, smiling.] “She’s on her way! We should hide now—”

[nrcbookclub]

“Oh, that’s good!”

[Trystia simply watches while Chase makes the call, shoulders un-tensing a bit in relief when Chase confirms help is on the way. They’re quick to find a place to hide from Sadiya and the blot monster]

“Who did you call? And thank you, for calling someone…”

[nrcsfavoriteshrimps]

“Just a friend of mine! She’s more suited to deal with others’ blot than I am…”

[Just a few moments after they hide, the Apparition approaches.]

“I know you’re there.”

[Chase slaps his hands over his mouth again. The Apparition strolls by the bush, its grin growing.]

“Why don’t you come on out? It’ll be so much easier…”

[It stops right in front of them.]

“There you—”

[WHACK!!!!]

[The sound of glass cracking is heard when a staff meets the Apparition’s head. It lands with a thud, looking up at the new person and growling.]

“You little—”

“A BA BA BA!” [Ai Wuzhi cuts the Apparition off.] “I was having a VERY NICE nap, and when I wake up? There’s a fuckin’ overblot?! Fuck off!”

[She goes to swing her staff again, but the Apparition dodges. In an instant, it gets up and flies away, clearly angry.]

“Wuzhi!” [Chase squeals, hopping out of the bush with his tail wagging.] “You made it!”

“Yeah…you’re lucky there was a good reason to wake me up.” [Wuzhi sighs, spinning her staff around before leaning on it.]

[Chase giggles. A moment of calm before the storm.]

[nrcbookclub]

[Trystia appears to be trying to make herself smaller, to hide better from the apparition. She looks up at it for the split second before it gets absolutely fucking whacked. They look shocked and relieved after it flies away, getting up much slower than Chase to greet Wuzhi]

“Thank the seven you arrived in time… and thank you for coming to help us. I doubt we could have done this just the two of us...”

[They give a small smile to Wuhzi]

“And that was pretty cool too.. soo..”

[nrcsfavoriteshrimps]

“Yeah, uh…thanks,” [she says, somewhat bashful.] “So uh…would either of you care to give me a rundown of what happened?”

“W-Well…um…” [Chase hesitates, looking over at Trystia for help.] “…?”

[nrcbookclub]

“Well.. Sadiya had overblotted. It’s a bit different though, the.. apparition that you whacked is much more in control than I’ve ever seen..”

[Trystia trails off before adding on another thing. They’ve been twirling a strand of hair around their finger this whole time]

“And I got a notification about regretting something earlier, which is what prompted me to come here. And Chase called you to help us deal with this and make sure nobody gets too hurt.”

[nrcsfavoriteshrimps]

“Tsk…” [Wuzhi clicks her tongue, putting a hand on her hip while tapping her foot.] “Goddamn overblots…always at the worst times…”

[It seems like she’s locking in…]

“This one is definitely smarter than the others…not only is it talking to us too, but it’s covering up its weakness…not completely, though. If you got a good look at its eyes and mouth, you could see the glass,” [Wuzhi remarks, humming.] “Strange that the ink is gold, though…maybe it’s because most of the blot is outside the bottle? Or is that a different form of blot? Anyways, yeah. Glad you guys are somewhat okay, at least.”

[Chase clears his throat, stepping forward.] “Well, Wuzhi…do you think you could help us? You said your unique magic can absorb other people’s blot before…!”

“Oh! Yeah, that’s…a pretty good idea. If I can absorb enough blot, it’ll be forced to reveal its weakness!” [She grins, straightening up and gripping her staff tightly.] “That way, we can break it! But…the problem is getting it to stay still for long enough…it seems to be using Sadiya like a puppet, rather than the other way around…”

“Right! So we should be careful of that!”

[nrcbookclub]

“I’m as ok as someone in this situation can be..”

[Trystia tilts her head, nodding along to the formations of the plan. They’re glancing around the area for things that might be useful in this.. or environmental advantages]

“Watching out for attacks will probably be harder than expected.. especially since y’know, aforementioned puppetry of Sadiya. Sooo.. maybe a distraction of some kind..?”

[nrcsfavoriteshrimps]

“Yeah, a distraction would be good. As well as a decently-sized place to keep them in so they don’t get away…”

[Wuzhi and Chase are quiet for a few moments.]

“Maybe…the garden could work again? I mean, a classroom would be too small and dangerous, and I can’t really think of any other places…”

[Wuzhi looks over, then at her feet, deep in thought.] “…well…we’d have to evacuate your dormmates, first.”

“…right…” [Chase deflates slightly, worried again.]

“Anyways. If the two of you can provide a distraction for Sadiya, I can go after the…Whaddya call this?”

“I just started calling it an Apparition!”

“That.”

[nrcbookclub]

“I can help distract it, yeah! And probably with evacuation too.. it shouldn’t be too much of a challenge to evacuate people.. maybe. I dunno..”

[Trystia nods, looking over at the garden with newly analytical eyes. They’re trying to determine spots where they could duck behind in case of an attack..]

“Be careful while you go after it though… I don’t think we’re sure how powerful it is on it’s own.”

[nrcsfavoriteshrimps]

[Wuzhi just shrugs. She’ll figure something out.]

“Alright. We got the basics of a plan.” [She spins her staff again, an anxious habit. She’s admittedly very worried, though her experience in battle is helping her hide it.] “But…try not to hurt her too badly…if I know Sadiya, and I do, she’s gonna beat herself up for all of this. She already feels so guilty for winter break…I can’t imagine what this is gonna do to her.”

[Chase lets out a low whimpering sound, like a rejected dog. He lowers his head, too. He doesn’t know her as well as Wuzhi, Rocky, Izem, and Rusul do…but he’s heard the conversations between the Apparition and Sadiya.]

[Wuzhi looks at Chase as she puts her hair up into a bun, tying it with the teal ribbon she’s wearing.] “You sure you’re all gonna be alright?”

“…I-I’ll be fine…once she’s safe!” [Chase exclaims, steeling his resolve. He can always use his own unique magic for a power boost if he needs to.]

[nrcbookclub]

“I’ll be sure to be careful about not hurting her..”

[Trystia is still staring into the garden, though her eyes flick over at the mention of winter break. It’s only for a split second and would be practically unnoticeable if you weren’t looking for it. She’s rubbing the gem of her magic pen, having switched from one nervous fidget to another.]

“Are we ready to do this? The sooner we start the better..”

[nrcsfavoriteshrimps]

[Wuzhi nods, pulling out a strand of hair and blowing on it. Once it lands, a clone of Wuzhi is created. Wuzhi instructs it in another language, and it runs off.]

———

[Wuzhi watches as her clone runs into the gardens, followed by two flying figures. They both enter, right when the clone disappears into sparkles.]

“̴̦́?̵̦̋!̸̟͝”̶̗̒ [Sadiya’s glazed-over eyes widen in shock. She looks around quickly, both her and the Apparition’s gazes landing on the group.]

“Tsk…you two again. And you brought a little friend? How sweet.” [It says, strolling closer to Wuzhi, but not too close so that it can’t get grabbed.] “You…aren’t you lucky Sadiya doesn’t know your unique magic? From what I’ve seen, I’m sure it can be very useful…”

“Piss off.”

“Oh my! Such crass language! Didn’t your mother ever teach you better than that?” [It asks, it’s grin growing.] “Oh, that’s right…never mind then, I suppose.”

[Wuzhi flinches harshly, grip tightening on her staff as Sadiya snaps her head back. That seemed to kick her out of the trance, at least for a moment.]

“Hey, that—”

[The Apparition snaps its gaze back at her, locking eyes with Sadiya. She’s gone again. It looks back at Chase and Trystia, specifically at Chase, its eyes narrowing.]

“…attack the overblotted, Sadiya,” [It commands, waving a hand in their direction.]

“̶̥̌…̸͕͂I̶̯̊ ̸̼̀ẅ̶͕́ì̶̭ḽ̵͆l̷̙̀…̴̩͊”̵͙͋

[Sadiya lunges at the two of them. Wuzhi’s plan seems to be working, at least for now. She beckons the Apparition closer.]

“Then it’s me against you.”

[The Apparition huffs and rolls its eyes.] “Seems so.” [Then, it attacks Wuzhi.]

[Unfortunately, it has Sadiya’s fighting skill, which is very good. Fortunately, Wuzhi is still a trained soldier!]

[nrcbookclub]

[Trystia’s eyes narrow as she does a weird little roll to get out of the way of Sadiya. She has never claimed to be a gymnast, so it is obviously clumsy. She has an eye on the fight between Wuzhi and the Apparition. They trust Wuhzi, especially after seeing those fighting skills, but still.. they can’t help but worry as she rambles under her breath]

“More and more evidence towards my theory and I really wish I wasn’t being proven right about it because that had a whole load of implications..!”

[nrcsfavoriteshrimps]

[Sadiya grunts as Chase lands a blow on her, stumbling back before striking again. Chase narrowly dodges, grabbing Sadiya’s arm and tossing her into the dirt. She stands back up, not even bothering to dust herself off. The golden scarab on her chest’s wings flutter, revealing the black magestone underneath. She inhales, and as she exhales, red smoke pours from her mouth. Wuzhi notices, her gaze snapping in that direction.]

“That’s Silas’s ability! It’s not magic, how did she—?!” [She coughs, dodging an attack and shouting again,] “Hold your breath! And if you can, cover your mouth!”

[Chase holds his breath, taking the chance to hold down Sadiya while she’s still. Sadiya flails, but can’t break out. Her body is still too exhausted to fight back properly.]

[Meanwhile, the Apparition keeps attacking.] “Might wanna hurry~! It’s already been an hour since this overblot started~!” [It taunts them, chuckling.] “If you don’t hurry, you might just see another person die. You don’t want that, do you?”

[Wuzhi, covering her mouth and nose with her shirt, huffs and swings her staff at it. The Apparition dodges, grabbing the staff and throwing her. Wuzhi lands on her feet, skidding to a stop. While the Apparition is distracted with her, Wuzhi gestures for Trystia to get a swing at its head while she keeps its attention on herself.]

[nrcbookclub]

[Trystia, having done the same as Wuhzi to avoid breathing in the smoke, looks over and tightens her grip on their magic pen. They move behind the Apparition swiftly and hopefully without drawing attention to herself. They think over what to do for only a second before mildly panicking and just blasting the back of it’s head with a shot of cosmic magic]

“Oh my fucking seven, holy Fantasy-“

[nrcsfavoriteshrimps]

[The Apparition narrowly dodges, laughing as it nearly strikes Wuzhi instead. Wuzhi thankfully manages to deflect it, sending it into the sky and watching it fizzle out.]

[Huffing, she manages to sneak behind it as it stares at Trystia…]

[Placing her hand directly on the back of its head, Wuzhi, giving a smile of her own, speaks up,]

“Caught ya.”

[While the Apparition flails, Wuzhi absorbs enough blot from it to reveal the glass head. She’s shoved off before she can absorb any further, but its weakness is exposed now and it doesn’t have enough blot to cover it back up. Sighing, the Apparition looks back at Wuzhi.]

“You little shit. Fine then. We’ll play that way.”

[The air tenses as it changes form, becoming more of a monstrous bird. It picks up Sadiya with its talons, breaking her out of the ice and absorbing her into its body. Chase whimpers, stepping back in fear.]

“It can never be that easy, can it?!”

“What…?”

“̷G̸o̸ ̵o̷n̷.̸ ̶I̸’̸l̷l̵ ̵l̷e̵t̵ ̵y̶o̸u̷ ̴t̴a̸k̵e̷ ̶t̴h̵e̷ ̸f̴i̷r̴s̶t̷ ̷s̷h̸o̴t̸.̸”̴

[nrcbookclub]

[Trystia looks a little worried when the blast is dodged, relaxing when Wuzhi is able to deflect it. This worry very quickly turns to overthinking when trying to figure out what the hell to do when the gaze of the Apparition is on her. Should she attack again, or prepare for an attack?

She’s definitely overthinking it and looks relieved when Wuzhi gets it. They grin when it’s blot is absorbed, though the feeling of victory is short lived as they watch in horror as Sadiya is absorbed]

“What the actual fuck..? Is- oh thats.. oh seven.”

[nrcbookclub]

[Shadows loom over the school campus as a large pair of wings block out the sun. Various students on campus are panicking. Some have a familiar collar around their necks. Others have a glass over their eyes, stumbling back to their dorms. Ink-stained feathers are scattered across the campus.]

[Several students, particularly the ones who have overblotted, get a notification pop-up, sort of like a video game system.]

Do you regret it?

✅/❌

— @nrcsfavoriteshrimps

(sorry if this isn’t very good, I had a bit of trouble with this ;-; /lh)

[Trystia is sat in the library, as she usually is, but this time it’s different. It’s clear they’re trying to figure out what’s going on while staying in what she assumes will be a safe space, at least for now. There’s a few books around on the table she was working at, abandoned as they moved to a more secluded area to hide until there was a determination of whether or not it was safe to move out of the area. Trystia is hoping it’s not an overblot, but knowing how this school is.. it’s probably an overblot.]

“..huh? What the- who’s messaging me? Fuck I hope the others are…”

[Trystia’s voice trails off as she notices something. The notification. Regret. She regrets a lot of things, but what could it be referring to? And if it was an overblot, why would they be asking her that..?

They choose the checkmark option. After a few seconds of deliberation, of course. It’s probably the safest option. Hopefully.]

you’re all good! sorry it took so long to respond, i decided to go to bed at 3 am on one of my last school nights and then crashed as soon as i got home </3

[nrcsfavoriteshrimps]

[The pop-up disappears, though the eerie air remains. Outside the window, a figure flies down from the main building to the botanical gardens.]

[A trail of feathers and ink are left behind. On the ground, a different winged figure, completely blot-colored, looks up with piercing gold eyes. It smiles, then disappears.]

[How odd.]

[nrcbookclub]

[Trystia watches the figure, having noticed it out of the corner of her eyes.

Sevens fucking damnit. Another overblot.

Their eyes trail towards the botanical gardens, considering. And Trystia, ever the bleeding heart, gets up and begins to move. Move towards the gardens that hold another overblotted student. Because she doesn’t want the school to get destroyed or something. Counterproductive considering she kinda lives here every part of the year but summer]

“Alright. This is fine. Normal even, considering this fucking school.”

[She’s in denial]

[nrcsfavoriteshrimps]

———

[In the gardens, a few people are scattered about. Chase is there, ducking behind some large leaves.]

“H-Hey, over here!” [he whispers out, eyes wide with terror. He waves them over hurriedly.] “Do you know what’s going on?! Why did Sadiya go cuckoo?!”

[Sadiya seems to be calmly walking around, though there’s a stumble to her steps. The apparition appears behind her, whispering something they can’t hear from where they are. Sadiya looks towards the direction of the apparition, and for a moment, her eyes seem clear. Still crying. Her eyes full of regret and shame. Then, she’s gone again, her eyes glazed back over and narrowing.]

“̵̥̩̽̔̃͗͝T̶̺̮͈̲́͘h̵̛̤ͅé̸̘͘ȳ̶̮̳͊́ ̷͕̳̘̇̏̃́͠f̸̭̏̋͊́ő̵̢̲̠̗̊͒l̵̪̄͘ļ̷͓̝́ö̷̙͍̰̠́̇̏̕w̴̦̎e̸͍̣̯̮̔̂͑͝ḓ̶̳̿?̴̙̗̚”̴̡̛̲̹͓̽͑̋ [Her voice comes out distorted and echoed.]

[The apparition seems to smile as it speaks,] “Indeed they did…they said they regretted it, but…can you be so sure?” [Its words make Sadiya pause.]

“̵͎́…̶̗̾ē̸̝v̶̗̽e̶̙͘ȓ̶̰y̶͍͝o̴͕̍n̵̥͂ē̴̺ ̴́͜ŝ̸̩a̴̘͌y̷͓͆ș̷̅ ̷̻̉t̴̜̓h̷̭̿a̷̲͊t̵͖͝…̷̡͗ḍ̸̃ó̵̫ ̶͓̀t̴̤̚h̸̻̿e̶̗̋y̶̳͆ ̴̯̿ḿ̴͔è̶̙a̴̬̔n̴͇͆ ̴̦̕i̵̫͠t̴͍̅…̵̫̀?̴̱̊”̷̼̋

“You know what…I don’t think they do. Shouldn’t you teach them a lesson?”

[Sadiya is quiet for a while.] “̴͙̈́…̴̡̑f̶̗̑i̶̥̍ń̵͙d̵̠̾ ̶͍̄ť̵̨ḫ̴͐e̵̯͘m̵̢̈́.̵̫̂”̵̣̎

“Of course, dear host…”

[The Apparition disappears again.]

[Chase’s ears are pointed back, tail between his legs. He’s trying to muffle his terrified sobs, barely managing to do so.]

“Sadiya, she…she wouldn’t do this willingly…s-someone has to be controlling her…right?”

[nrcbookclub]

[Trystia’s head snaps towards the other student surprisingly fast, and she seems to be trying to remember Chase’s name. After a few seconds she ends up standing near him, also hiding. They look at Sadiya for a second, brows furrowed as they just.. observe for a second, before turning to Chase]

“Uh.. Chase, right? I.. think she’s overblotted… but I’m trying to convince myself it’s not one because those are kind of a pain. For everyone involved. But first things first, are you ok?”

[She has clearly taken note of his terrified state, and is also cataloging the cries of the plants around her. Although they’re also trying to not panic, it’s clear Trystia is pretty good at keeping calm]

“You look… terrified. Or very scared, if you want a lighter term..”

[nrcsfavoriteshrimps]

“N-No, terrified is right…Sadiya is one of my closest friends…she wouldn’t…she isn’t…” [Chase explains, whimpering quietly.] “I’m worried about her…it’s kinda weird to say but this smells…different than the other overblots. Thicker…I think…?”

[While Sadiya stumbles to the far side of the garden, a trail of feathers is left behind. The apparition walks in the opposite direction. While Sadiya walks more like she’s being dragged, the apparition walks with purpose and focus. It hums, like it’s playing. But it isn’t. It’s hunting.]

“Now now, dear friends…why must you hide? I’m sure we could find a way to talk about things~!”

“That thing…” [Chase whispers,] “…it’s like it’s the one controlling her…not the other way around…”

[nrcbookclub]

[Trystia watches Sadiya and the apparition, both to analyze and keep an eye on the possible danger. She’s begun to whisper as well]

“…yeah. It looks different to me too. Plus the whole ‘do you regret it’ pop up… this is a weird overblot, that’s for sure.”

[They jump a bit at the sound of the voice, nodding along to Chase’s.. statement? Theory? Whatever it was, Trystia agrees. They have a hand on their magic pen, just in case]

“It definitely seems like that.. and the way it moves reminds me of some of the predator animals I’ve seen..”

[nrcsfavoriteshrimps]

[Chase sniffs the air, his eyes widening as he covers his mouth with his hands. The Apparition strolls behind them, seeming to giggle as it approaches.]

[Once it passes, Chase looks over.] “W-We might need backup…if this thing is this coherent, I don’t think the two of us are gonna be enough…” [he whimpers as he looks around for anybody else.] “W-Who else could we try to find…? Who else could even help…?”

[The apparition walks by again. It seems to be circling them, like a shark in the water. It knows they’re there. It’s just waiting for the perfect time to strike.]

[nrcbookclub]

[Trystia tenses, grip on her magic pen tightening, as the apparition gets closer. She nods silently while trying to think of a person who could help..]

“I- I don’t know.. I definitely agree we need help, two vs two-ish with a sentient thing during an overblot is a bad match up. And I’m down my unique magic..”

[The last part is said near silently, as they continue to watch the apparition and mentally prepare for a conflict between this thing and themself]

“I could send a message for the book club group chat, but I don’t know if any of them would get here in time..”

[nrcsfavoriteshrimps]

[Luckily for the duo, the Apparition is suddenly attacked by a winged figure. Is…is that Sadiya?! Fighting her own phantom?! Whatever’s happening, it gives Chase enough time to grab Trystia’s hands and drag her out of the garden.]

[Once outside, Chase huffs in exhaustion from the sudden sprint. From the windows, he sees the Apparition gripping Sadiya’s face, forcing her to look it in the eyes. The glass is cracked, so he can hear what’s being said:]

“Do you REALLY think they’ll EVER forgive you?!”

“N-No, but I—”

“YOU were the one that let your blot grow so much! It’s been building up all YEAR, and you didn’t do a thing about it?!”

“I didn’t want them to worry—”

“Oh, they’re not gonna worry. They’re gonna DESPISE you!!! You overblotted! You’re causing damage right now! Sevens, you’re just the scum of Twisted Wonderland, aren’t you?”

“You…”

“Did it finally click for you? That’s right. Since you kept your emotions bottled up for so long, and thanks to that magic of yours…I have control. You built up so much, I have POWER! I’m more than just your phantom…”

[The phantom’s eyes pulse. It seems like it’s using Snake Whisper…on Sadiya…and unlike Winter Break, it’s working.]

“I am the embodiment of your regrets and fears. Your guilt personified. I’ll make you hurt the ones you love, just so you feel worse. So that I get stronger. Because you’ll never be able to repent. You’ll never be forgiven. You will never be seen as good in the eyes of the Great Seven.”

“…”

“You’re the one that carries the weight of their guilt, because none of them can feel it. None of them suffer like you do. They deserve to suffer, just like you are right now.”

“̸̡̟̇̀̋…̸̤̈́I̶̧͈̮͠…̴̗̞̏̆͐”̶̬̹̮̐̆

“G o m a k e t h e m r e g r e t i t M O R E.”

“̴̡̲̻̇…̷̬͋͋̃͠I̵͉̙̥͂͛̅̏ ̴͍̲̼͉̼̖͛̀̉̽͗w̷͈̓͒̍ḯ̴̩͇̟̻̟̞̒̑l̷̛̩͉̋͠l̶̛̙̑͌͒…̴̨̻̦͛͗͝”̶̫̩́̈́͊̎̚͝

[Chase backs away from the glass, looking at the other student.] “Did you…hear it…? I-It was talking to her…telling her…”

[nrcbookclub]

[Trystia watches the situation at hand with wide eyes before flinching away from the glass at the sound of yelling. The familiar pulse of Snake Whisper has them stifling a gasp with her hand, looking towards Chase and simply nodding. After a few seconds of struggle, they speak again]

“I- I did.. it’s making her fight, I think. Make them regret..”

[She pinches her arm, a nervous habit, brows furrowed as they try to think. Their eyes widen at the end of the sentence they speak next]

“Regret, regret.. it keeps mentioning regret. What could it- oh shit.”

[nrcsfavoriteshrimps]

“W-What? What did you realize?!” [Chase asks, going to take a step forward. But his knees give out, and he falls to the ground.]

[He covers his mouth with his hands, suddenly feeling sick. This isn’t good.]

“What are we gonna do…?”

[nrcbookclub]

“Regret.. maybe related to overblots..? I can’t entirely explain my thought process but I just- it would make sense… I think.”

[Trystia startles when Chase falls, quickly doing a visual check of if he’s hurt]

“Right now..? Make sure we don’t like.. die. But long term, we need to make sure Sadiya like.. how do you phrase it? Snaps out of it. Reach out for help too maybe?”

[nrcsfavoriteshrimps]

[Chase thinks for a long moment, before suddenly perking up. He reaches for his phone, calling a certain contact that they can’t see from that angle.] “I-I know someone I can call!”

“五指！你能到植物园外面来一趟吗？很紧急！” [He seems to be speaking in a language one might recognize as this world’s Mandarin.] “是的！谢谢！”

[He turns to the other student, smiling.] “She’s on her way! We should hide now—”

[nrcbookclub]

“Oh, that’s good!”

[Trystia simply watches while Chase makes the call, shoulders un-tensing a bit in relief when Chase confirms help is on the way. They’re quick to find a place to hide from Sadiya and the blot monster]

“Who did you call? And thank you, for calling someone…”

[nrcsfavoriteshrimps]

“Just a friend of mine! She’s more suited to deal with others’ blot than I am…”

[Just a few moments after they hide, the Apparition approaches.]

“I know you’re there.”

[Chase slaps his hands over his mouth again. The Apparition strolls by the bush, its grin growing.]

“Why don’t you come on out? It’ll be so much easier…”

[It stops right in front of them.]

“There you—”

[WHACK!!!!]

[The sound of glass cracking is heard when a staff meets the Apparition’s head. It lands with a thud, looking up at the new person and growling.]

“You little—”

“A BA BA BA!” [Ai Wuzhi cuts the Apparition off.] “I was having a VERY NICE nap, and when I wake up? There’s a fuckin’ overblot?! Fuck off!”

[She goes to swing her staff again, but the Apparition dodges. In an instant, it gets up and flies away, clearly angry.]

“Wuzhi!” [Chase squeals, hopping out of the bush with his tail wagging.] “You made it!”

“Yeah…you’re lucky there was a good reason to wake me up.” [Wuzhi sighs, spinning her staff around before leaning on it.]

[Chase giggles. A moment of calm before the storm.]

[nrcbookclub]

[Trystia appears to be trying to make herself smaller, to hide better from the apparition. She looks up at it for the split second before it gets absolutely fucking whacked. They look shocked and relieved after it flies away, getting up much slower than Chase to greet Wuzhi]

“Thank the seven you arrived in time… and thank you for coming to help us. I doubt we could have done this just the two of us...”

[They give a small smile to Wuhzi]

“And that was pretty cool too.. soo..”

[nrcsfavoriteshrimps]

“Yeah, uh…thanks,” [she says, somewhat bashful.] “So uh…would either of you care to give me a rundown of what happened?”

“W-Well…um…” [Chase hesitates, looking over at Trystia for help.] “…?”

[nrcbookclub]

“Well.. Sadiya had overblotted. It’s a bit different though, the.. apparition that you whacked is much more in control than I’ve ever seen..”

[Trystia trails off before adding on another thing. They’ve been twirling a strand of hair around their finger this whole time]

“And I got a notification about regretting something earlier, which is what prompted me to come here. And Chase called you to help us deal with this and make sure nobody gets too hurt.”

[nrcsfavoriteshrimps]

“Tsk…” [Wuzhi clicks her tongue, putting a hand on her hip while tapping her foot.] “Goddamn overblots…always at the worst times…”

[It seems like she’s locking in…]

“This one is definitely smarter than the others…not only is it talking to us too, but it’s covering up its weakness…not completely, though. If you got a good look at its eyes and mouth, you could see the glass,” [Wuzhi remarks, humming.] “Strange that the ink is gold, though…maybe it’s because most of the blot is outside the bottle? Or is that a different form of blot? Anyways, yeah. Glad you guys are somewhat okay, at least.”

[Chase clears his throat, stepping forward.] “Well, Wuzhi…do you think you could help us? You said your unique magic can absorb other people’s blot before…!”

“Oh! Yeah, that’s…a pretty good idea. If I can absorb enough blot, it’ll be forced to reveal its weakness!” [She grins, straightening up and gripping her staff tightly.] “That way, we can break it! But…the problem is getting it to stay still for long enough…it seems to be using Sadiya like a puppet, rather than the other way around…”

“Right! So we should be careful of that!”

[nrcbookclub]

“I’m as ok as someone in this situation can be..”

[Trystia tilts her head, nodding along to the formations of the plan. They’re glancing around the area for things that might be useful in this.. or environmental advantages]

“Watching out for attacks will probably be harder than expected.. especially since y’know, aforementioned puppetry of Sadiya. Sooo.. maybe a distraction of some kind..?”

[nrcsfavoriteshrimps]

“Yeah, a distraction would be good. As well as a decently-sized place to keep them in so they don’t get away…”

[Wuzhi and Chase are quiet for a few moments.]

“Maybe…the garden could work again? I mean, a classroom would be too small and dangerous, and I can’t really think of any other places…”

[Wuzhi looks over, then at her feet, deep in thought.] “…well…we’d have to evacuate your dormmates, first.”

“…right…” [Chase deflates slightly, worried again.]

“Anyways. If the two of you can provide a distraction for Sadiya, I can go after the…Whaddya call this?”

“I just started calling it an Apparition!”

“That.”

[nrcbookclub]

“I can help distract it, yeah! And probably with evacuation too.. it shouldn’t be too much of a challenge to evacuate people.. maybe. I dunno..”

[Trystia nods, looking over at the garden with newly analytical eyes. They’re trying to determine spots where they could duck behind in case of an attack..]

“Be careful while you go after it though… I don’t think we’re sure how powerful it is on it’s own.”

[nrcsfavoriteshrimps]

[Wuzhi just shrugs. She’ll figure something out.]

“Alright. We got the basics of a plan.” [She spins her staff again, an anxious habit. She’s admittedly very worried, though her experience in battle is helping her hide it.] “But…try not to hurt her too badly…if I know Sadiya, and I do, she’s gonna beat herself up for all of this. She already feels so guilty for winter break…I can’t imagine what this is gonna do to her.”

[Chase lets out a low whimpering sound, like a rejected dog. He lowers his head, too. He doesn’t know her as well as Wuzhi, Rocky, Izem, and Rusul do…but he’s heard the conversations between the Apparition and Sadiya.]

[Wuzhi looks at Chase as she puts her hair up into a bun, tying it with the teal ribbon she’s wearing.] “You sure you’re all gonna be alright?”

“…I-I’ll be fine…once she’s safe!” [Chase exclaims, steeling his resolve. He can always use his own unique magic for a power boost if he needs to.]

[nrcbookclub]

“I’ll be sure to be careful about not hurting her..”

[Trystia is still staring into the garden, though her eyes flick over at the mention of winter break. It’s only for a split second and would be practically unnoticeable if you weren’t looking for it. She’s rubbing the gem of her magic pen, having switched from one nervous fidget to another.]

“Are we ready to do this? The sooner we start the better..”

[nrcsfavoriteshrimps]

[Wuzhi nods, pulling out a strand of hair and blowing on it. Once it lands, a clone of Wuzhi is created. Wuzhi instructs it in another language, and it runs off.]

———

[Wuzhi watches as her clone runs into the gardens, followed by two flying figures. They both enter, right when the clone disappears into sparkles.]

“̴̦́?̵̦̋!̸̟͝”̶̗̒ [Sadiya’s glazed-over eyes widen in shock. She looks around quickly, both her and the Apparition’s gazes landing on the group.]

“Tsk…you two again. And you brought a little friend? How sweet.” [It says, strolling closer to Wuzhi, but not too close so that it can’t get grabbed.] “You…aren’t you lucky Sadiya doesn’t know your unique magic? From what I’ve seen, I’m sure it can be very useful…”

“Piss off.”

“Oh my! Such crass language! Didn’t your mother ever teach you better than that?” [It asks, it’s grin growing.] “Oh, that’s right…never mind then, I suppose.”

[Wuzhi flinches harshly, grip tightening on her staff as Sadiya snaps her head back. That seemed to kick her out of the trance, at least for a moment.]

“Hey, that—”

[The Apparition snaps its gaze back at her, locking eyes with Sadiya. She’s gone again. It looks back at Chase and Trystia, specifically at Chase, its eyes narrowing.]

“…attack the overblotted, Sadiya,” [It commands, waving a hand in their direction.]

“̶̥̌…̸͕͂I̶̯̊ ̸̼̀ẅ̶͕́ì̶̭ḽ̵͆l̷̙̀…̴̩͊”̵͙͋

[Sadiya lunges at the two of them. Wuzhi’s plan seems to be working, at least for now. She beckons the Apparition closer.]

“Then it’s me against you.”

[The Apparition huffs and rolls its eyes.] “Seems so.” [Then, it attacks Wuzhi.]

[Unfortunately, it has Sadiya’s fighting skill, which is very good. Fortunately, Wuzhi is still a trained soldier!]

[nrcbookclub]

[Trystia’s eyes narrow as she does a weird little roll to get out of the way of Sadiya. She has never claimed to be a gymnast, so it is obviously clumsy. She has an eye on the fight between Wuzhi and the Apparition. They trust Wuhzi, especially after seeing those fighting skills, but still.. they can’t help but worry as she rambles under her breath]

“More and more evidence towards my theory and I really wish I wasn’t being proven right about it because that had a whole load of implications..!”

[nrcsfavoriteshrimps]

[Sadiya grunts as Chase lands a blow on her, stumbling back before striking again. Chase narrowly dodges, grabbing Sadiya’s arm and tossing her into the dirt. She stands back up, not even bothering to dust herself off. The golden scarab on her chest’s wings flutter, revealing the black magestone underneath. She inhales, and as she exhales, red smoke pours from her mouth. Wuzhi notices, her gaze snapping in that direction.]

“That’s Silas’s ability! It’s not magic, how did she—?!” [She coughs, dodging an attack and shouting again,] “Hold your breath! And if you can, cover your mouth!”

[Chase holds his breath, taking the chance to hold down Sadiya while she’s still. Sadiya flails, but can’t break out. Her body is still too exhausted to fight back properly.]

[Meanwhile, the Apparition keeps attacking.] “Might wanna hurry~! It’s already been an hour since this overblot started~!” [It taunts them, chuckling.] “If you don’t hurry, you might just see another person die. You don’t want that, do you?”

[Wuzhi, covering her mouth and nose with her shirt, huffs and swings her staff at it. The Apparition dodges, grabbing the staff and throwing her. Wuzhi lands on her feet, skidding to a stop. While the Apparition is distracted with her, Wuzhi gestures for Trystia to get a swing at its head while she keeps its attention on herself.]

[nrcbookclub]

[Trystia, having done the same as Wuhzi to avoid breathing in the smoke, looks over and tightens her grip on their magic pen. They move behind the Apparition swiftly and hopefully without drawing attention to herself. They think over what to do for only a second before mildly panicking and just blasting the back of it’s head with a shot of cosmic magic]

“Oh my fucking seven, holy Fantasy-“

[nrcbookclub]

Me when i wanna do a rewrite of trystia’s overblot because i think i could, with three more years of experience, do a better job writinf it

[nrcbookclub]

[Shadows loom over the school campus as a large pair of wings block out the sun. Various students on campus are panicking. Some have a familiar collar around their necks. Others have a glass over their eyes, stumbling back to their dorms. Ink-stained feathers are scattered across the campus.]

[Several students, particularly the ones who have overblotted, get a notification pop-up, sort of like a video game system.]

Do you regret it?

✅/❌

— @nrcsfavoriteshrimps

(sorry if this isn’t very good, I had a bit of trouble with this ;-; /lh)

[Trystia is sat in the library, as she usually is, but this time it’s different. It’s clear they’re trying to figure out what’s going on while staying in what she assumes will be a safe space, at least for now. There’s a few books around on the table she was working at, abandoned as they moved to a more secluded area to hide until there was a determination of whether or not it was safe to move out of the area. Trystia is hoping it’s not an overblot, but knowing how this school is.. it’s probably an overblot.]

“..huh? What the- who’s messaging me? Fuck I hope the others are…”

[Trystia’s voice trails off as she notices something. The notification. Regret. She regrets a lot of things, but what could it be referring to? And if it was an overblot, why would they be asking her that..?

They choose the checkmark option. After a few seconds of deliberation, of course. It’s probably the safest option. Hopefully.]

you’re all good! sorry it took so long to respond, i decided to go to bed at 3 am on one of my last school nights and then crashed as soon as i got home </3

[nrcsfavoriteshrimps]

[The pop-up disappears, though the eerie air remains. Outside the window, a figure flies down from the main building to the botanical gardens.]

[A trail of feathers and ink are left behind. On the ground, a different winged figure, completely blot-colored, looks up with piercing gold eyes. It smiles, then disappears.]

[How odd.]

[nrcbookclub]

[Trystia watches the figure, having noticed it out of the corner of her eyes.

Sevens fucking damnit. Another overblot.

Their eyes trail towards the botanical gardens, considering. And Trystia, ever the bleeding heart, gets up and begins to move. Move towards the gardens that hold another overblotted student. Because she doesn’t want the school to get destroyed or something. Counterproductive considering she kinda lives here every part of the year but summer]

“Alright. This is fine. Normal even, considering this fucking school.”

[She’s in denial]

[nrcsfavoriteshrimps]

———

[In the gardens, a few people are scattered about. Chase is there, ducking behind some large leaves.]

“H-Hey, over here!” [he whispers out, eyes wide with terror. He waves them over hurriedly.] “Do you know what’s going on?! Why did Sadiya go cuckoo?!”

[Sadiya seems to be calmly walking around, though there’s a stumble to her steps. The apparition appears behind her, whispering something they can’t hear from where they are. Sadiya looks towards the direction of the apparition, and for a moment, her eyes seem clear. Still crying. Her eyes full of regret and shame. Then, she’s gone again, her eyes glazed back over and narrowing.]

“̵̥̩̽̔̃͗͝T̶̺̮͈̲́͘h̵̛̤ͅé̸̘͘ȳ̶̮̳͊́ ̷͕̳̘̇̏̃́͠f̸̭̏̋͊́ő̵̢̲̠̗̊͒l̵̪̄͘ļ̷͓̝́ö̷̙͍̰̠́̇̏̕w̴̦̎e̸͍̣̯̮̔̂͑͝ḓ̶̳̿?̴̙̗̚”̴̡̛̲̹͓̽͑̋ [Her voice comes out distorted and echoed.]

[The apparition seems to smile as it speaks,] “Indeed they did…they said they regretted it, but…can you be so sure?” [Its words make Sadiya pause.]

“̵͎́…̶̗̾ē̸̝v̶̗̽e̶̙͘ȓ̶̰y̶͍͝o̴͕̍n̵̥͂ē̴̺ ̴́͜ŝ̸̩a̴̘͌y̷͓͆ș̷̅ ̷̻̉t̴̜̓h̷̭̿a̷̲͊t̵͖͝…̷̡͗ḍ̸̃ó̵̫ ̶͓̀t̴̤̚h̸̻̿e̶̗̋y̶̳͆ ̴̯̿ḿ̴͔è̶̙a̴̬̔n̴͇͆ ̴̦̕i̵̫͠t̴͍̅…̵̫̀?̴̱̊”̷̼̋

“You know what…I don’t think they do. Shouldn’t you teach them a lesson?”

[Sadiya is quiet for a while.] “̴͙̈́…̴̡̑f̶̗̑i̶̥̍ń̵͙d̵̠̾ ̶͍̄ť̵̨ḫ̴͐e̵̯͘m̵̢̈́.̵̫̂”̵̣̎

“Of course, dear host…”

[The Apparition disappears again.]

[Chase’s ears are pointed back, tail between his legs. He’s trying to muffle his terrified sobs, barely managing to do so.]

“Sadiya, she…she wouldn’t do this willingly…s-someone has to be controlling her…right?”

[nrcbookclub]

[Trystia’s head snaps towards the other student surprisingly fast, and she seems to be trying to remember Chase’s name. After a few seconds she ends up standing near him, also hiding. They look at Sadiya for a second, brows furrowed as they just.. observe for a second, before turning to Chase]

“Uh.. Chase, right? I.. think she’s overblotted… but I’m trying to convince myself it’s not one because those are kind of a pain. For everyone involved. But first things first, are you ok?”

[She has clearly taken note of his terrified state, and is also cataloging the cries of the plants around her. Although they’re also trying to not panic, it’s clear Trystia is pretty good at keeping calm]

“You look… terrified. Or very scared, if you want a lighter term..”

[nrcsfavoriteshrimps]

“N-No, terrified is right…Sadiya is one of my closest friends…she wouldn’t…she isn’t…” [Chase explains, whimpering quietly.] “I’m worried about her…it’s kinda weird to say but this smells…different than the other overblots. Thicker…I think…?”

[While Sadiya stumbles to the far side of the garden, a trail of feathers is left behind. The apparition walks in the opposite direction. While Sadiya walks more like she’s being dragged, the apparition walks with purpose and focus. It hums, like it’s playing. But it isn’t. It’s hunting.]

“Now now, dear friends…why must you hide? I’m sure we could find a way to talk about things~!”

“That thing…” [Chase whispers,] “…it’s like it’s the one controlling her…not the other way around…”

[nrcbookclub]

[Trystia watches Sadiya and the apparition, both to analyze and keep an eye on the possible danger. She’s begun to whisper as well]

“…yeah. It looks different to me too. Plus the whole ‘do you regret it’ pop up… this is a weird overblot, that’s for sure.”

[They jump a bit at the sound of the voice, nodding along to Chase’s.. statement? Theory? Whatever it was, Trystia agrees. They have a hand on their magic pen, just in case]

“It definitely seems like that.. and the way it moves reminds me of some of the predator animals I’ve seen..”

[nrcsfavoriteshrimps]

[Chase sniffs the air, his eyes widening as he covers his mouth with his hands. The Apparition strolls behind them, seeming to giggle as it approaches.]

[Once it passes, Chase looks over.] “W-We might need backup…if this thing is this coherent, I don’t think the two of us are gonna be enough…” [he whimpers as he looks around for anybody else.] “W-Who else could we try to find…? Who else could even help…?”

[The apparition walks by again. It seems to be circling them, like a shark in the water. It knows they’re there. It’s just waiting for the perfect time to strike.]

[nrcbookclub]

[Trystia tenses, grip on her magic pen tightening, as the apparition gets closer. She nods silently while trying to think of a person who could help..]

“I- I don’t know.. I definitely agree we need help, two vs two-ish with a sentient thing during an overblot is a bad match up. And I’m down my unique magic..”

[The last part is said near silently, as they continue to watch the apparition and mentally prepare for a conflict between this thing and themself]

“I could send a message for the book club group chat, but I don’t know if any of them would get here in time..”

[nrcsfavoriteshrimps]

[Luckily for the duo, the Apparition is suddenly attacked by a winged figure. Is…is that Sadiya?! Fighting her own phantom?! Whatever’s happening, it gives Chase enough time to grab Trystia’s hands and drag her out of the garden.]

[Once outside, Chase huffs in exhaustion from the sudden sprint. From the windows, he sees the Apparition gripping Sadiya’s face, forcing her to look it in the eyes. The glass is cracked, so he can hear what’s being said:]

“Do you REALLY think they’ll EVER forgive you?!”

“N-No, but I—”

“YOU were the one that let your blot grow so much! It’s been building up all YEAR, and you didn’t do a thing about it?!”

“I didn’t want them to worry—”

“Oh, they’re not gonna worry. They’re gonna DESPISE you!!! You overblotted! You’re causing damage right now! Sevens, you’re just the scum of Twisted Wonderland, aren’t you?”

“You…”

“Did it finally click for you? That’s right. Since you kept your emotions bottled up for so long, and thanks to that magic of yours…I have control. You built up so much, I have POWER! I’m more than just your phantom…”

[The phantom’s eyes pulse. It seems like it’s using Snake Whisper…on Sadiya…and unlike Winter Break, it’s working.]

“I am the embodiment of your regrets and fears. Your guilt personified. I’ll make you hurt the ones you love, just so you feel worse. So that I get stronger. Because you’ll never be able to repent. You’ll never be forgiven. You will never be seen as good in the eyes of the Great Seven.”

“…”

“You’re the one that carries the weight of their guilt, because none of them can feel it. None of them suffer like you do. They deserve to suffer, just like you are right now.”

“̸̡̟̇̀̋…̸̤̈́I̶̧͈̮͠…̴̗̞̏̆͐”̶̬̹̮̐̆

“G o m a k e t h e m r e g r e t i t M O R E.”

“̴̡̲̻̇…̷̬͋͋̃͠I̵͉̙̥͂͛̅̏ ̴͍̲̼͉̼̖͛̀̉̽͗w̷͈̓͒̍ḯ̴̩͇̟̻̟̞̒̑l̷̛̩͉̋͠l̶̛̙̑͌͒…̴̨̻̦͛͗͝”̶̫̩́̈́͊̎̚͝

[Chase backs away from the glass, looking at the other student.] “Did you…hear it…? I-It was talking to her…telling her…”

[nrcbookclub]

[Trystia watches the situation at hand with wide eyes before flinching away from the glass at the sound of yelling. The familiar pulse of Snake Whisper has them stifling a gasp with her hand, looking towards Chase and simply nodding. After a few seconds of struggle, they speak again]

“I- I did.. it’s making her fight, I think. Make them regret..”

[She pinches her arm, a nervous habit, brows furrowed as they try to think. Their eyes widen at the end of the sentence they speak next]

“Regret, regret.. it keeps mentioning regret. What could it- oh shit.”

[nrcsfavoriteshrimps]

“W-What? What did you realize?!” [Chase asks, going to take a step forward. But his knees give out, and he falls to the ground.]

[He covers his mouth with his hands, suddenly feeling sick. This isn’t good.]

“What are we gonna do…?”

[nrcbookclub]

“Regret.. maybe related to overblots..? I can’t entirely explain my thought process but I just- it would make sense… I think.”

[Trystia startles when Chase falls, quickly doing a visual check of if he’s hurt]

“Right now..? Make sure we don’t like.. die. But long term, we need to make sure Sadiya like.. how do you phrase it? Snaps out of it. Reach out for help too maybe?”

[nrcsfavoriteshrimps]

[Chase thinks for a long moment, before suddenly perking up. He reaches for his phone, calling a certain contact that they can’t see from that angle.] “I-I know someone I can call!”

“五指！你能到植物园外面来一趟吗？很紧急！” [He seems to be speaking in a language one might recognize as this world’s Mandarin.] “是的！谢谢！”

[He turns to the other student, smiling.] “She’s on her way! We should hide now—”

[nrcbookclub]

“Oh, that’s good!”

[Trystia simply watches while Chase makes the call, shoulders un-tensing a bit in relief when Chase confirms help is on the way. They’re quick to find a place to hide from Sadiya and the blot monster]

“Who did you call? And thank you, for calling someone…”

[nrcsfavoriteshrimps]

“Just a friend of mine! She’s more suited to deal with others’ blot than I am…”

[Just a few moments after they hide, the Apparition approaches.]

“I know you’re there.”

[Chase slaps his hands over his mouth again. The Apparition strolls by the bush, its grin growing.]

“Why don’t you come on out? It’ll be so much easier…”

[It stops right in front of them.]

“There you—”

[WHACK!!!!]

[The sound of glass cracking is heard when a staff meets the Apparition’s head. It lands with a thud, looking up at the new person and growling.]

“You little—”

“A BA BA BA!” [Ai Wuzhi cuts the Apparition off.] “I was having a VERY NICE nap, and when I wake up? There’s a fuckin’ overblot?! Fuck off!”

[She goes to swing her staff again, but the Apparition dodges. In an instant, it gets up and flies away, clearly angry.]

“Wuzhi!” [Chase squeals, hopping out of the bush with his tail wagging.] “You made it!”

“Yeah…you’re lucky there was a good reason to wake me up.” [Wuzhi sighs, spinning her staff around before leaning on it.]

[Chase giggles. A moment of calm before the storm.]

[nrcbookclub]

[Trystia appears to be trying to make herself smaller, to hide better from the apparition. She looks up at it for the split second before it gets absolutely fucking whacked. They look shocked and relieved after it flies away, getting up much slower than Chase to greet Wuzhi]

“Thank the seven you arrived in time… and thank you for coming to help us. I doubt we could have done this just the two of us...”

[They give a small smile to Wuhzi]

“And that was pretty cool too.. soo..”

[nrcsfavoriteshrimps]

“Yeah, uh…thanks,” [she says, somewhat bashful.] “So uh…would either of you care to give me a rundown of what happened?”

“W-Well…um…” [Chase hesitates, looking over at Trystia for help.] “…?”

[nrcbookclub]

“Well.. Sadiya had overblotted. It’s a bit different though, the.. apparition that you whacked is much more in control than I’ve ever seen..”

[Trystia trails off before adding on another thing. They’ve been twirling a strand of hair around their finger this whole time]

“And I got a notification about regretting something earlier, which is what prompted me to come here. And Chase called you to help us deal with this and make sure nobody gets too hurt.”

[nrcsfavoriteshrimps]

“Tsk…” [Wuzhi clicks her tongue, putting a hand on her hip while tapping her foot.] “Goddamn overblots…always at the worst times…”

[It seems like she’s locking in…]

“This one is definitely smarter than the others…not only is it talking to us too, but it’s covering up its weakness…not completely, though. If you got a good look at its eyes and mouth, you could see the glass,” [Wuzhi remarks, humming.] “Strange that the ink is gold, though…maybe it’s because most of the blot is outside the bottle? Or is that a different form of blot? Anyways, yeah. Glad you guys are somewhat okay, at least.”

[Chase clears his throat, stepping forward.] “Well, Wuzhi…do you think you could help us? You said your unique magic can absorb other people’s blot before…!”

“Oh! Yeah, that’s…a pretty good idea. If I can absorb enough blot, it’ll be forced to reveal its weakness!” [She grins, straightening up and gripping her staff tightly.] “That way, we can break it! But…the problem is getting it to stay still for long enough…it seems to be using Sadiya like a puppet, rather than the other way around…”

“Right! So we should be careful of that!”

[nrcbookclub]

“I’m as ok as someone in this situation can be..”

[Trystia tilts her head, nodding along to the formations of the plan. They’re glancing around the area for things that might be useful in this.. or environmental advantages]

“Watching out for attacks will probably be harder than expected.. especially since y’know, aforementioned puppetry of Sadiya. Sooo.. maybe a distraction of some kind..?”

[nrcsfavoriteshrimps]

“Yeah, a distraction would be good. As well as a decently-sized place to keep them in so they don’t get away…”

[Wuzhi and Chase are quiet for a few moments.]

“Maybe…the garden could work again? I mean, a classroom would be too small and dangerous, and I can’t really think of any other places…”

[Wuzhi looks over, then at her feet, deep in thought.] “…well…we’d have to evacuate your dormmates, first.”

“…right…” [Chase deflates slightly, worried again.]

“Anyways. If the two of you can provide a distraction for Sadiya, I can go after the…Whaddya call this?”

“I just started calling it an Apparition!”

“That.”

[nrcbookclub]

“I can help distract it, yeah! And probably with evacuation too.. it shouldn’t be too much of a challenge to evacuate people.. maybe. I dunno..”

[Trystia nods, looking over at the garden with newly analytical eyes. They’re trying to determine spots where they could duck behind in case of an attack..]

“Be careful while you go after it though… I don’t think we’re sure how powerful it is on it’s own.”

[nrcsfavoriteshrimps]

[Wuzhi just shrugs. She’ll figure something out.]

“Alright. We got the basics of a plan.” [She spins her staff again, an anxious habit. She’s admittedly very worried, though her experience in battle is helping her hide it.] “But…try not to hurt her too badly…if I know Sadiya, and I do, she’s gonna beat herself up for all of this. She already feels so guilty for winter break…I can’t imagine what this is gonna do to her.”

[Chase lets out a low whimpering sound, like a rejected dog. He lowers his head, too. He doesn’t know her as well as Wuzhi, Rocky, Izem, and Rusul do…but he’s heard the conversations between the Apparition and Sadiya.]

[Wuzhi looks at Chase as she puts her hair up into a bun, tying it with the teal ribbon she’s wearing.] “You sure you’re all gonna be alright?”

“…I-I’ll be fine…once she’s safe!” [Chase exclaims, steeling his resolve. He can always use his own unique magic for a power boost if he needs to.]

[nrcbookclub]

“I’ll be sure to be careful about not hurting her..”

[Trystia is still staring into the garden, though her eyes flick over at the mention of winter break. It’s only for a split second and would be practically unnoticeable if you weren’t looking for it. She’s rubbing the gem of her magic pen, having switched from one nervous fidget to another.]

“Are we ready to do this? The sooner we start the better..”

[nrcsfavoriteshrimps]

[Wuzhi nods, pulling out a strand of hair and blowing on it. Once it lands, a clone of Wuzhi is created. Wuzhi instructs it in another language, and it runs off.]

———

[Wuzhi watches as her clone runs into the gardens, followed by two flying figures. They both enter, right when the clone disappears into sparkles.]

“̴̦́?̵̦̋!̸̟͝”̶̗̒ [Sadiya’s glazed-over eyes widen in shock. She looks around quickly, both her and the Apparition’s gazes landing on the group.]

“Tsk…you two again. And you brought a little friend? How sweet.” [It says, strolling closer to Wuzhi, but not too close so that it can’t get grabbed.] “You…aren’t you lucky Sadiya doesn’t know your unique magic? From what I’ve seen, I’m sure it can be very useful…”

“Piss off.”

“Oh my! Such crass language! Didn’t your mother ever teach you better than that?” [It asks, it’s grin growing.] “Oh, that’s right…never mind then, I suppose.”

[Wuzhi flinches harshly, grip tightening on her staff as Sadiya snaps her head back. That seemed to kick her out of the trance, at least for a moment.]

“Hey, that—”

[The Apparition snaps its gaze back at her, locking eyes with Sadiya. She’s gone again. It looks back at Chase and Trystia, specifically at Chase, its eyes narrowing.]

“…attack the overblotted, Sadiya,” [It commands, waving a hand in their direction.]

“̶̥̌…̸͕͂I̶̯̊ ̸̼̀ẅ̶͕́ì̶̭ḽ̵͆l̷̙̀…̴̩͊”̵͙͋

[Sadiya lunges at the two of them. Wuzhi’s plan seems to be working, at least for now. She beckons the Apparition closer.]

“Then it’s me against you.”

[The Apparition huffs and rolls its eyes.] “Seems so.” [Then, it attacks Wuzhi.]

[Unfortunately, it has Sadiya’s fighting skill, which is very good. Fortunately, Wuzhi is still a trained soldier!]

[nrcbookclub]

[Trystia’s eyes narrow as she does a weird little roll to get out of the way of Sadiya. She has never claimed to be a gymnast, so it is obviously clumsy. She has an eye on the fight between Wuzhi and the Apparition. They trust Wuhzi, especially after seeing those fighting skills, but still.. they can’t help but worry as she rambles under her breath]

“More and more evidence towards my theory and I really wish I wasn’t being proven right about it because that had a whole load of implications..!”

[nrcbookclub]

[Shadows loom over the school campus as a large pair of wings block out the sun. Various students on campus are panicking. Some have a familiar collar around their necks. Others have a glass over their eyes, stumbling back to their dorms. Ink-stained feathers are scattered across the campus.]

[Several students, particularly the ones who have overblotted, get a notification pop-up, sort of like a video game system.]

Do you regret it?

✅/❌

— @nrcsfavoriteshrimps

(sorry if this isn’t very good, I had a bit of trouble with this ;-; /lh)

[Trystia is sat in the library, as she usually is, but this time it’s different. It’s clear they’re trying to figure out what’s going on while staying in what she assumes will be a safe space, at least for now. There’s a few books around on the table she was working at, abandoned as they moved to a more secluded area to hide until there was a determination of whether or not it was safe to move out of the area. Trystia is hoping it’s not an overblot, but knowing how this school is.. it’s probably an overblot.]

“..huh? What the- who’s messaging me? Fuck I hope the others are…”

[Trystia’s voice trails off as she notices something. The notification. Regret. She regrets a lot of things, but what could it be referring to? And if it was an overblot, why would they be asking her that..?

They choose the checkmark option. After a few seconds of deliberation, of course. It’s probably the safest option. Hopefully.]

you’re all good! sorry it took so long to respond, i decided to go to bed at 3 am on one of my last school nights and then crashed as soon as i got home </3

[nrcsfavoriteshrimps]

[The pop-up disappears, though the eerie air remains. Outside the window, a figure flies down from the main building to the botanical gardens.]

[A trail of feathers and ink are left behind. On the ground, a different winged figure, completely blot-colored, looks up with piercing gold eyes. It smiles, then disappears.]

[How odd.]

[nrcbookclub]

[Trystia watches the figure, having noticed it out of the corner of her eyes.

Sevens fucking damnit. Another overblot.

Their eyes trail towards the botanical gardens, considering. And Trystia, ever the bleeding heart, gets up and begins to move. Move towards the gardens that hold another overblotted student. Because she doesn’t want the school to get destroyed or something. Counterproductive considering she kinda lives here every part of the year but summer]

“Alright. This is fine. Normal even, considering this fucking school.”

[She’s in denial]

[nrcsfavoriteshrimps]

———

[In the gardens, a few people are scattered about. Chase is there, ducking behind some large leaves.]

“H-Hey, over here!” [he whispers out, eyes wide with terror. He waves them over hurriedly.] “Do you know what’s going on?! Why did Sadiya go cuckoo?!”

[Sadiya seems to be calmly walking around, though there’s a stumble to her steps. The apparition appears behind her, whispering something they can’t hear from where they are. Sadiya looks towards the direction of the apparition, and for a moment, her eyes seem clear. Still crying. Her eyes full of regret and shame. Then, she’s gone again, her eyes glazed back over and narrowing.]

“̵̥̩̽̔̃͗͝T̶̺̮͈̲́͘h̵̛̤ͅé̸̘͘ȳ̶̮̳͊́ ̷͕̳̘̇̏̃́͠f̸̭̏̋͊́ő̵̢̲̠̗̊͒l̵̪̄͘ļ̷͓̝́ö̷̙͍̰̠́̇̏̕w̴̦̎e̸͍̣̯̮̔̂͑͝ḓ̶̳̿?̴̙̗̚”̴̡̛̲̹͓̽͑̋ [Her voice comes out distorted and echoed.]

[The apparition seems to smile as it speaks,] “Indeed they did…they said they regretted it, but…can you be so sure?” [Its words make Sadiya pause.]

“̵͎́…̶̗̾ē̸̝v̶̗̽e̶̙͘ȓ̶̰y̶͍͝o̴͕̍n̵̥͂ē̴̺ ̴́͜ŝ̸̩a̴̘͌y̷͓͆ș̷̅ ̷̻̉t̴̜̓h̷̭̿a̷̲͊t̵͖͝…̷̡͗ḍ̸̃ó̵̫ ̶͓̀t̴̤̚h̸̻̿e̶̗̋y̶̳͆ ̴̯̿ḿ̴͔è̶̙a̴̬̔n̴͇͆ ̴̦̕i̵̫͠t̴͍̅…̵̫̀?̴̱̊”̷̼̋

“You know what…I don’t think they do. Shouldn’t you teach them a lesson?”

[Sadiya is quiet for a while.] “̴͙̈́…̴̡̑f̶̗̑i̶̥̍ń̵͙d̵̠̾ ̶͍̄ť̵̨ḫ̴͐e̵̯͘m̵̢̈́.̵̫̂”̵̣̎

“Of course, dear host…”

[The Apparition disappears again.]

[Chase’s ears are pointed back, tail between his legs. He’s trying to muffle his terrified sobs, barely managing to do so.]

“Sadiya, she…she wouldn’t do this willingly…s-someone has to be controlling her…right?”

[nrcbookclub]

[Trystia’s head snaps towards the other student surprisingly fast, and she seems to be trying to remember Chase’s name. After a few seconds she ends up standing near him, also hiding. They look at Sadiya for a second, brows furrowed as they just.. observe for a second, before turning to Chase]

“Uh.. Chase, right? I.. think she’s overblotted… but I’m trying to convince myself it’s not one because those are kind of a pain. For everyone involved. But first things first, are you ok?”

[She has clearly taken note of his terrified state, and is also cataloging the cries of the plants around her. Although they’re also trying to not panic, it’s clear Trystia is pretty good at keeping calm]

“You look… terrified. Or very scared, if you want a lighter term..”

[nrcsfavoriteshrimps]

“N-No, terrified is right…Sadiya is one of my closest friends…she wouldn’t…she isn’t…” [Chase explains, whimpering quietly.] “I’m worried about her…it’s kinda weird to say but this smells…different than the other overblots. Thicker…I think…?”

[While Sadiya stumbles to the far side of the garden, a trail of feathers is left behind. The apparition walks in the opposite direction. While Sadiya walks more like she’s being dragged, the apparition walks with purpose and focus. It hums, like it’s playing. But it isn’t. It’s hunting.]

“Now now, dear friends…why must you hide? I’m sure we could find a way to talk about things~!”

“That thing…” [Chase whispers,] “…it’s like it’s the one controlling her…not the other way around…”

[nrcbookclub]

[Trystia watches Sadiya and the apparition, both to analyze and keep an eye on the possible danger. She’s begun to whisper as well]

“…yeah. It looks different to me too. Plus the whole ‘do you regret it’ pop up… this is a weird overblot, that’s for sure.”

[They jump a bit at the sound of the voice, nodding along to Chase’s.. statement? Theory? Whatever it was, Trystia agrees. They have a hand on their magic pen, just in case]

“It definitely seems like that.. and the way it moves reminds me of some of the predator animals I’ve seen..”

[nrcsfavoriteshrimps]

[Chase sniffs the air, his eyes widening as he covers his mouth with his hands. The Apparition strolls behind them, seeming to giggle as it approaches.]

[Once it passes, Chase looks over.] “W-We might need backup…if this thing is this coherent, I don’t think the two of us are gonna be enough…” [he whimpers as he looks around for anybody else.] “W-Who else could we try to find…? Who else could even help…?”

[The apparition walks by again. It seems to be circling them, like a shark in the water. It knows they’re there. It’s just waiting for the perfect time to strike.]

[nrcbookclub]

[Trystia tenses, grip on her magic pen tightening, as the apparition gets closer. She nods silently while trying to think of a person who could help..]

“I- I don’t know.. I definitely agree we need help, two vs two-ish with a sentient thing during an overblot is a bad match up. And I’m down my unique magic..”

[The last part is said near silently, as they continue to watch the apparition and mentally prepare for a conflict between this thing and themself]

“I could send a message for the book club group chat, but I don’t know if any of them would get here in time..”

[nrcsfavoriteshrimps]

[Luckily for the duo, the Apparition is suddenly attacked by a winged figure. Is…is that Sadiya?! Fighting her own phantom?! Whatever’s happening, it gives Chase enough time to grab Trystia’s hands and drag her out of the garden.]

[Once outside, Chase huffs in exhaustion from the sudden sprint. From the windows, he sees the Apparition gripping Sadiya’s face, forcing her to look it in the eyes. The glass is cracked, so he can hear what’s being said:]

“Do you REALLY think they’ll EVER forgive you?!”

“N-No, but I—”

“YOU were the one that let your blot grow so much! It’s been building up all YEAR, and you didn’t do a thing about it?!”

“I didn’t want them to worry—”

“Oh, they’re not gonna worry. They’re gonna DESPISE you!!! You overblotted! You’re causing damage right now! Sevens, you’re just the scum of Twisted Wonderland, aren’t you?”

“You…”

“Did it finally click for you? That’s right. Since you kept your emotions bottled up for so long, and thanks to that magic of yours…I have control. You built up so much, I have POWER! I’m more than just your phantom…”

[The phantom’s eyes pulse. It seems like it’s using Snake Whisper…on Sadiya…and unlike Winter Break, it’s working.]

“I am the embodiment of your regrets and fears. Your guilt personified. I’ll make you hurt the ones you love, just so you feel worse. So that I get stronger. Because you’ll never be able to repent. You’ll never be forgiven. You will never be seen as good in the eyes of the Great Seven.”

“…”

“You’re the one that carries the weight of their guilt, because none of them can feel it. None of them suffer like you do. They deserve to suffer, just like you are right now.”

“̸̡̟̇̀̋…̸̤̈́I̶̧͈̮͠…̴̗̞̏̆͐”̶̬̹̮̐̆

“G o m a k e t h e m r e g r e t i t M O R E.”

“̴̡̲̻̇…̷̬͋͋̃͠I̵͉̙̥͂͛̅̏ ̴͍̲̼͉̼̖͛̀̉̽͗w̷͈̓͒̍ḯ̴̩͇̟̻̟̞̒̑l̷̛̩͉̋͠l̶̛̙̑͌͒…̴̨̻̦͛͗͝”̶̫̩́̈́͊̎̚͝

[Chase backs away from the glass, looking at the other student.] “Did you…hear it…? I-It was talking to her…telling her…”

[nrcbookclub]

[Trystia watches the situation at hand with wide eyes before flinching away from the glass at the sound of yelling. The familiar pulse of Snake Whisper has them stifling a gasp with her hand, looking towards Chase and simply nodding. After a few seconds of struggle, they speak again]

“I- I did.. it’s making her fight, I think. Make them regret..”

[She pinches her arm, a nervous habit, brows furrowed as they try to think. Their eyes widen at the end of the sentence they speak next]

“Regret, regret.. it keeps mentioning regret. What could it- oh shit.”

[nrcsfavoriteshrimps]

“W-What? What did you realize?!” [Chase asks, going to take a step forward. But his knees give out, and he falls to the ground.]

[He covers his mouth with his hands, suddenly feeling sick. This isn’t good.]

“What are we gonna do…?”

[nrcbookclub]

“Regret.. maybe related to overblots..? I can’t entirely explain my thought process but I just- it would make sense… I think.”

[Trystia startles when Chase falls, quickly doing a visual check of if he’s hurt]

“Right now..? Make sure we don’t like.. die. But long term, we need to make sure Sadiya like.. how do you phrase it? Snaps out of it. Reach out for help too maybe?”

[nrcsfavoriteshrimps]

[Chase thinks for a long moment, before suddenly perking up. He reaches for his phone, calling a certain contact that they can’t see from that angle.] “I-I know someone I can call!”

“五指！你能到植物园外面来一趟吗？很紧急！” [He seems to be speaking in a language one might recognize as this world’s Mandarin.] “是的！谢谢！”

[He turns to the other student, smiling.] “She’s on her way! We should hide now—”

[nrcbookclub]

“Oh, that’s good!”

[Trystia simply watches while Chase makes the call, shoulders un-tensing a bit in relief when Chase confirms help is on the way. They’re quick to find a place to hide from Sadiya and the blot monster]

“Who did you call? And thank you, for calling someone…”

[nrcsfavoriteshrimps]

“Just a friend of mine! She’s more suited to deal with others’ blot than I am…”

[Just a few moments after they hide, the Apparition approaches.]

“I know you’re there.”

[Chase slaps his hands over his mouth again. The Apparition strolls by the bush, its grin growing.]

“Why don’t you come on out? It’ll be so much easier…”

[It stops right in front of them.]

“There you—”

[WHACK!!!!]

[The sound of glass cracking is heard when a staff meets the Apparition’s head. It lands with a thud, looking up at the new person and growling.]

“You little—”

“A BA BA BA!” [Ai Wuzhi cuts the Apparition off.] “I was having a VERY NICE nap, and when I wake up? There’s a fuckin’ overblot?! Fuck off!”

[She goes to swing her staff again, but the Apparition dodges. In an instant, it gets up and flies away, clearly angry.]

“Wuzhi!” [Chase squeals, hopping out of the bush with his tail wagging.] “You made it!”

“Yeah…you’re lucky there was a good reason to wake me up.” [Wuzhi sighs, spinning her staff around before leaning on it.]

[Chase giggles. A moment of calm before the storm.]

[nrcbookclub]

[Trystia appears to be trying to make herself smaller, to hide better from the apparition. She looks up at it for the split second before it gets absolutely fucking whacked. They look shocked and relieved after it flies away, getting up much slower than Chase to greet Wuzhi]

“Thank the seven you arrived in time… and thank you for coming to help us. I doubt we could have done this just the two of us...”

[They give a small smile to Wuhzi]

“And that was pretty cool too.. soo..”

[nrcsfavoriteshrimps]

“Yeah, uh…thanks,” [she says, somewhat bashful.] “So uh…would either of you care to give me a rundown of what happened?”

“W-Well…um…” [Chase hesitates, looking over at Trystia for help.] “…?”

[nrcbookclub]

“Well.. Sadiya had overblotted. It’s a bit different though, the.. apparition that you whacked is much more in control than I’ve ever seen..”

[Trystia trails off before adding on another thing. They’ve been twirling a strand of hair around their finger this whole time]

“And I got a notification about regretting something earlier, which is what prompted me to come here. And Chase called you to help us deal with this and make sure nobody gets too hurt.”

[nrcsfavoriteshrimps]

“Tsk…” [Wuzhi clicks her tongue, putting a hand on her hip while tapping her foot.] “Goddamn overblots…always at the worst times…”

[It seems like she’s locking in…]

“This one is definitely smarter than the others…not only is it talking to us too, but it’s covering up its weakness…not completely, though. If you got a good look at its eyes and mouth, you could see the glass,” [Wuzhi remarks, humming.] “Strange that the ink is gold, though…maybe it’s because most of the blot is outside the bottle? Or is that a different form of blot? Anyways, yeah. Glad you guys are somewhat okay, at least.”

[Chase clears his throat, stepping forward.] “Well, Wuzhi…do you think you could help us? You said your unique magic can absorb other people’s blot before…!”

“Oh! Yeah, that’s…a pretty good idea. If I can absorb enough blot, it’ll be forced to reveal its weakness!” [She grins, straightening up and gripping her staff tightly.] “That way, we can break it! But…the problem is getting it to stay still for long enough…it seems to be using Sadiya like a puppet, rather than the other way around…”

“Right! So we should be careful of that!”

[nrcbookclub]

“I’m as ok as someone in this situation can be..”

[Trystia tilts her head, nodding along to the formations of the plan. They’re glancing around the area for things that might be useful in this.. or environmental advantages]

“Watching out for attacks will probably be harder than expected.. especially since y’know, aforementioned puppetry of Sadiya. Sooo.. maybe a distraction of some kind..?”

[nrcsfavoriteshrimps]

“Yeah, a distraction would be good. As well as a decently-sized place to keep them in so they don’t get away…”

[Wuzhi and Chase are quiet for a few moments.]

“Maybe…the garden could work again? I mean, a classroom would be too small and dangerous, and I can’t really think of any other places…”

[Wuzhi looks over, then at her feet, deep in thought.] “…well…we’d have to evacuate your dormmates, first.”

“…right…” [Chase deflates slightly, worried again.]

“Anyways. If the two of you can provide a distraction for Sadiya, I can go after the…Whaddya call this?”

“I just started calling it an Apparition!”

“That.”

[nrcbookclub]

“I can help distract it, yeah! And probably with evacuation too.. it shouldn’t be too much of a challenge to evacuate people.. maybe. I dunno..”

[Trystia nods, looking over at the garden with newly analytical eyes. They’re trying to determine spots where they could duck behind in case of an attack..]

“Be careful while you go after it though… I don’t think we’re sure how powerful it is on it’s own.”

[nrcsfavoriteshrimps]

[Wuzhi just shrugs. She’ll figure something out.]

“Alright. We got the basics of a plan.” [She spins her staff again, an anxious habit. She’s admittedly very worried, though her experience in battle is helping her hide it.] “But…try not to hurt her too badly…if I know Sadiya, and I do, she’s gonna beat herself up for all of this. She already feels so guilty for winter break…I can’t imagine what this is gonna do to her.”

[Chase lets out a low whimpering sound, like a rejected dog. He lowers his head, too. He doesn’t know her as well as Wuzhi, Rocky, Izem, and Rusul do…but he’s heard the conversations between the Apparition and Sadiya.]

[Wuzhi looks at Chase as she puts her hair up into a bun, tying it with the teal ribbon she’s wearing.] “You sure you’re all gonna be alright?”

“…I-I’ll be fine…once she’s safe!” [Chase exclaims, steeling his resolve. He can always use his own unique magic for a power boost if he needs to.]

[nrcbookclub]

“I’ll be sure to be careful about not hurting her..”

[Trystia is still staring into the garden, though her eyes flick over at the mention of winter break. It’s only for a split second and would be practically unnoticeable if you weren’t looking for it. She’s rubbing the gem of her magic pen, having switched from one nervous fidget to another.]

“Are we ready to do this? The sooner we start the better..”

[nrcbookclub]

[Shadows loom over the school campus as a large pair of wings block out the sun. Various students on campus are panicking. Some have a familiar collar around their necks. Others have a glass over their eyes, stumbling back to their dorms. Ink-stained feathers are scattered across the campus.]

[Several students, particularly the ones who have overblotted, get a notification pop-up, sort of like a video game system.]

Do you regret it?

✅/❌

— @nrcsfavoriteshrimps

(sorry if this isn’t very good, I had a bit of trouble with this ;-; /lh)

[Trystia is sat in the library, as she usually is, but this time it’s different. It’s clear they’re trying to figure out what’s going on while staying in what she assumes will be a safe space, at least for now. There’s a few books around on the table she was working at, abandoned as they moved to a more secluded area to hide until there was a determination of whether or not it was safe to move out of the area. Trystia is hoping it’s not an overblot, but knowing how this school is.. it’s probably an overblot.]

“..huh? What the- who’s messaging me? Fuck I hope the others are…”

[Trystia’s voice trails off as she notices something. The notification. Regret. She regrets a lot of things, but what could it be referring to? And if it was an overblot, why would they be asking her that..?

They choose the checkmark option. After a few seconds of deliberation, of course. It’s probably the safest option. Hopefully.]

you’re all good! sorry it took so long to respond, i decided to go to bed at 3 am on one of my last school nights and then crashed as soon as i got home </3

[nrcsfavoriteshrimps]

[The pop-up disappears, though the eerie air remains. Outside the window, a figure flies down from the main building to the botanical gardens.]

[A trail of feathers and ink are left behind. On the ground, a different winged figure, completely blot-colored, looks up with piercing gold eyes. It smiles, then disappears.]

[How odd.]

[nrcbookclub]

[Trystia watches the figure, having noticed it out of the corner of her eyes.

Sevens fucking damnit. Another overblot.

Their eyes trail towards the botanical gardens, considering. And Trystia, ever the bleeding heart, gets up and begins to move. Move towards the gardens that hold another overblotted student. Because she doesn’t want the school to get destroyed or something. Counterproductive considering she kinda lives here every part of the year but summer]

“Alright. This is fine. Normal even, considering this fucking school.”

[She’s in denial]

[nrcsfavoriteshrimps]

———

[In the gardens, a few people are scattered about. Chase is there, ducking behind some large leaves.]

“H-Hey, over here!” [he whispers out, eyes wide with terror. He waves them over hurriedly.] “Do you know what’s going on?! Why did Sadiya go cuckoo?!”

[Sadiya seems to be calmly walking around, though there’s a stumble to her steps. The apparition appears behind her, whispering something they can’t hear from where they are. Sadiya looks towards the direction of the apparition, and for a moment, her eyes seem clear. Still crying. Her eyes full of regret and shame. Then, she’s gone again, her eyes glazed back over and narrowing.]

“̵̥̩̽̔̃͗͝T̶̺̮͈̲́͘h̵̛̤ͅé̸̘͘ȳ̶̮̳͊́ ̷͕̳̘̇̏̃́͠f̸̭̏̋͊́ő̵̢̲̠̗̊͒l̵̪̄͘ļ̷͓̝́ö̷̙͍̰̠́̇̏̕w̴̦̎e̸͍̣̯̮̔̂͑͝ḓ̶̳̿?̴̙̗̚”̴̡̛̲̹͓̽͑̋ [Her voice comes out distorted and echoed.]

[The apparition seems to smile as it speaks,] “Indeed they did…they said they regretted it, but…can you be so sure?” [Its words make Sadiya pause.]

“̵͎́…̶̗̾ē̸̝v̶̗̽e̶̙͘ȓ̶̰y̶͍͝o̴͕̍n̵̥͂ē̴̺ ̴́͜ŝ̸̩a̴̘͌y̷͓͆ș̷̅ ̷̻̉t̴̜̓h̷̭̿a̷̲͊t̵͖͝…̷̡͗ḍ̸̃ó̵̫ ̶͓̀t̴̤̚h̸̻̿e̶̗̋y̶̳͆ ̴̯̿ḿ̴͔è̶̙a̴̬̔n̴͇͆ ̴̦̕i̵̫͠t̴͍̅…̵̫̀?̴̱̊”̷̼̋

“You know what…I don’t think they do. Shouldn’t you teach them a lesson?”

[Sadiya is quiet for a while.] “̴͙̈́…̴̡̑f̶̗̑i̶̥̍ń̵͙d̵̠̾ ̶͍̄ť̵̨ḫ̴͐e̵̯͘m̵̢̈́.̵̫̂”̵̣̎

“Of course, dear host…”

[The Apparition disappears again.]

[Chase’s ears are pointed back, tail between his legs. He’s trying to muffle his terrified sobs, barely managing to do so.]

“Sadiya, she…she wouldn’t do this willingly…s-someone has to be controlling her…right?”

[nrcbookclub]

[Trystia’s head snaps towards the other student surprisingly fast, and she seems to be trying to remember Chase’s name. After a few seconds she ends up standing near him, also hiding. They look at Sadiya for a second, brows furrowed as they just.. observe for a second, before turning to Chase]

“Uh.. Chase, right? I.. think she’s overblotted… but I’m trying to convince myself it’s not one because those are kind of a pain. For everyone involved. But first things first, are you ok?”

[She has clearly taken note of his terrified state, and is also cataloging the cries of the plants around her. Although they’re also trying to not panic, it’s clear Trystia is pretty good at keeping calm]

“You look… terrified. Or very scared, if you want a lighter term..”

[nrcsfavoriteshrimps]

“N-No, terrified is right…Sadiya is one of my closest friends…she wouldn’t…she isn’t…” [Chase explains, whimpering quietly.] “I’m worried about her…it’s kinda weird to say but this smells…different than the other overblots. Thicker…I think…?”

[While Sadiya stumbles to the far side of the garden, a trail of feathers is left behind. The apparition walks in the opposite direction. While Sadiya walks more like she’s being dragged, the apparition walks with purpose and focus. It hums, like it’s playing. But it isn’t. It’s hunting.]

“Now now, dear friends…why must you hide? I’m sure we could find a way to talk about things~!”

“That thing…” [Chase whispers,] “…it’s like it’s the one controlling her…not the other way around…”

[nrcbookclub]

[Trystia watches Sadiya and the apparition, both to analyze and keep an eye on the possible danger. She’s begun to whisper as well]

“…yeah. It looks different to me too. Plus the whole ‘do you regret it’ pop up… this is a weird overblot, that’s for sure.”

[They jump a bit at the sound of the voice, nodding along to Chase’s.. statement? Theory? Whatever it was, Trystia agrees. They have a hand on their magic pen, just in case]

“It definitely seems like that.. and the way it moves reminds me of some of the predator animals I’ve seen..”

[nrcsfavoriteshrimps]

[Chase sniffs the air, his eyes widening as he covers his mouth with his hands. The Apparition strolls behind them, seeming to giggle as it approaches.]

[Once it passes, Chase looks over.] “W-We might need backup…if this thing is this coherent, I don’t think the two of us are gonna be enough…” [he whimpers as he looks around for anybody else.] “W-Who else could we try to find…? Who else could even help…?”

[The apparition walks by again. It seems to be circling them, like a shark in the water. It knows they’re there. It’s just waiting for the perfect time to strike.]

[nrcbookclub]

[Trystia tenses, grip on her magic pen tightening, as the apparition gets closer. She nods silently while trying to think of a person who could help..]

“I- I don’t know.. I definitely agree we need help, two vs two-ish with a sentient thing during an overblot is a bad match up. And I’m down my unique magic..”

[The last part is said near silently, as they continue to watch the apparition and mentally prepare for a conflict between this thing and themself]

“I could send a message for the book club group chat, but I don’t know if any of them would get here in time..”

[nrcsfavoriteshrimps]

[Luckily for the duo, the Apparition is suddenly attacked by a winged figure. Is…is that Sadiya?! Fighting her own phantom?! Whatever’s happening, it gives Chase enough time to grab Trystia’s hands and drag her out of the garden.]

[Once outside, Chase huffs in exhaustion from the sudden sprint. From the windows, he sees the Apparition gripping Sadiya’s face, forcing her to look it in the eyes. The glass is cracked, so he can hear what’s being said:]

“Do you REALLY think they’ll EVER forgive you?!”

“N-No, but I—”

“YOU were the one that let your blot grow so much! It’s been building up all YEAR, and you didn’t do a thing about it?!”

“I didn’t want them to worry—”

“Oh, they’re not gonna worry. They’re gonna DESPISE you!!! You overblotted! You’re causing damage right now! Sevens, you’re just the scum of Twisted Wonderland, aren’t you?”

“You…”

“Did it finally click for you? That’s right. Since you kept your emotions bottled up for so long, and thanks to that magic of yours…I have control. You built up so much, I have POWER! I’m more than just your phantom…”

[The phantom’s eyes pulse. It seems like it’s using Snake Whisper…on Sadiya…and unlike Winter Break, it’s working.]

“I am the embodiment of your regrets and fears. Your guilt personified. I’ll make you hurt the ones you love, just so you feel worse. So that I get stronger. Because you’ll never be able to repent. You’ll never be forgiven. You will never be seen as good in the eyes of the Great Seven.”

“…”

“You’re the one that carries the weight of their guilt, because none of them can feel it. None of them suffer like you do. They deserve to suffer, just like you are right now.”

“̸̡̟̇̀̋…̸̤̈́I̶̧͈̮͠…̴̗̞̏̆͐”̶̬̹̮̐̆

“G o m a k e t h e m r e g r e t i t M O R E.”

“̴̡̲̻̇…̷̬͋͋̃͠I̵͉̙̥͂͛̅̏ ̴͍̲̼͉̼̖͛̀̉̽͗w̷͈̓͒̍ḯ̴̩͇̟̻̟̞̒̑l̷̛̩͉̋͠l̶̛̙̑͌͒…̴̨̻̦͛͗͝”̶̫̩́̈́͊̎̚͝

[Chase backs away from the glass, looking at the other student.] “Did you…hear it…? I-It was talking to her…telling her…”

[nrcbookclub]

[Trystia watches the situation at hand with wide eyes before flinching away from the glass at the sound of yelling. The familiar pulse of Snake Whisper has them stifling a gasp with her hand, looking towards Chase and simply nodding. After a few seconds of struggle, they speak again]

“I- I did.. it’s making her fight, I think. Make them regret..”

[She pinches her arm, a nervous habit, brows furrowed as they try to think. Their eyes widen at the end of the sentence they speak next]

“Regret, regret.. it keeps mentioning regret. What could it- oh shit.”

[nrcsfavoriteshrimps]

“W-What? What did you realize?!” [Chase asks, going to take a step forward. But his knees give out, and he falls to the ground.]

[He covers his mouth with his hands, suddenly feeling sick. This isn’t good.]

“What are we gonna do…?”

[nrcbookclub]

“Regret.. maybe related to overblots..? I can’t entirely explain my thought process but I just- it would make sense… I think.”

[Trystia startles when Chase falls, quickly doing a visual check of if he’s hurt]

“Right now..? Make sure we don’t like.. die. But long term, we need to make sure Sadiya like.. how do you phrase it? Snaps out of it. Reach out for help too maybe?”

[nrcsfavoriteshrimps]

[Chase thinks for a long moment, before suddenly perking up. He reaches for his phone, calling a certain contact that they can’t see from that angle.] “I-I know someone I can call!”

“五指！你能到植物园外面来一趟吗？很紧急！” [He seems to be speaking in a language one might recognize as this world’s Mandarin.] “是的！谢谢！”

[He turns to the other student, smiling.] “She’s on her way! We should hide now—”

[nrcbookclub]

“Oh, that’s good!”

[Trystia simply watches while Chase makes the call, shoulders un-tensing a bit in relief when Chase confirms help is on the way. They’re quick to find a place to hide from Sadiya and the blot monster]

“Who did you call? And thank you, for calling someone…”

[nrcsfavoriteshrimps]

“Just a friend of mine! She’s more suited to deal with others’ blot than I am…”

[Just a few moments after they hide, the Apparition approaches.]

“I know you’re there.”

[Chase slaps his hands over his mouth again. The Apparition strolls by the bush, its grin growing.]

“Why don’t you come on out? It’ll be so much easier…”

[It stops right in front of them.]

“There you—”

[WHACK!!!!]

[The sound of glass cracking is heard when a staff meets the Apparition’s head. It lands with a thud, looking up at the new person and growling.]

“You little—”

“A BA BA BA!” [Ai Wuzhi cuts the Apparition off.] “I was having a VERY NICE nap, and when I wake up? There’s a fuckin’ overblot?! Fuck off!”

[She goes to swing her staff again, but the Apparition dodges. In an instant, it gets up and flies away, clearly angry.]

“Wuzhi!” [Chase squeals, hopping out of the bush with his tail wagging.] “You made it!”

“Yeah…you’re lucky there was a good reason to wake me up.” [Wuzhi sighs, spinning her staff around before leaning on it.]

[Chase giggles. A moment of calm before the storm.]

[nrcbookclub]

[Trystia appears to be trying to make herself smaller, to hide better from the apparition. She looks up at it for the split second before it gets absolutely fucking whacked. They look shocked and relieved after it flies away, getting up much slower than Chase to greet Wuzhi]

“Thank the seven you arrived in time… and thank you for coming to help us. I doubt we could have done this just the two of us...”

[They give a small smile to Wuhzi]

“And that was pretty cool too.. soo..”

[nrcsfavoriteshrimps]

“Yeah, uh…thanks,” [she says, somewhat bashful.] “So uh…would either of you care to give me a rundown of what happened?”

“W-Well…um…” [Chase hesitates, looking over at Trystia for help.] “…?”

[nrcbookclub]

“Well.. Sadiya had overblotted. It’s a bit different though, the.. apparition that you whacked is much more in control than I’ve ever seen..”

[Trystia trails off before adding on another thing. They’ve been twirling a strand of hair around their finger this whole time]

“And I got a notification about regretting something earlier, which is what prompted me to come here. And Chase called you to help us deal with this and make sure nobody gets too hurt.”

[nrcsfavoriteshrimps]

“Tsk…” [Wuzhi clicks her tongue, putting a hand on her hip while tapping her foot.] “Goddamn overblots…always at the worst times…”

[It seems like she’s locking in…]

“This one is definitely smarter than the others…not only is it talking to us too, but it’s covering up its weakness…not completely, though. If you got a good look at its eyes and mouth, you could see the glass,” [Wuzhi remarks, humming.] “Strange that the ink is gold, though…maybe it’s because most of the blot is outside the bottle? Or is that a different form of blot? Anyways, yeah. Glad you guys are somewhat okay, at least.”

[Chase clears his throat, stepping forward.] “Well, Wuzhi…do you think you could help us? You said your unique magic can absorb other people’s blot before…!”

“Oh! Yeah, that’s…a pretty good idea. If I can absorb enough blot, it’ll be forced to reveal its weakness!” [She grins, straightening up and gripping her staff tightly.] “That way, we can break it! But…the problem is getting it to stay still for long enough…it seems to be using Sadiya like a puppet, rather than the other way around…”

“Right! So we should be careful of that!”

[nrcbookclub]

“I’m as ok as someone in this situation can be..”

[Trystia tilts her head, nodding along to the formations of the plan. They’re glancing around the area for things that might be useful in this.. or environmental advantages]

“Watching out for attacks will probably be harder than expected.. especially since y’know, aforementioned puppetry of Sadiya. Sooo.. maybe a distraction of some kind..?”

[nrcsfavoriteshrimps]

“Yeah, a distraction would be good. As well as a decently-sized place to keep them in so they don’t get away…”

[Wuzhi and Chase are quiet for a few moments.]

“Maybe…the garden could work again? I mean, a classroom would be too small and dangerous, and I can’t really think of any other places…”

[Wuzhi looks over, then at her feet, deep in thought.] “…well…we’d have to evacuate your dormmates, first.”

“…right…” [Chase deflates slightly, worried again.]

“Anyways. If the two of you can provide a distraction for Sadiya, I can go after the…Whaddya call this?”

“I just started calling it an Apparition!”

“That.”

[nrcbookclub]

“I can help distract it, yeah! And probably with evacuation too.. it shouldn’t be too much of a challenge to evacuate people.. maybe. I dunno..”

[Trystia nods, looking over at the garden with newly analytical eyes. They’re trying to determine spots where they could duck behind in case of an attack..]

“Be careful while you go after it though… I don’t think we’re sure how powerful it is on it’s own.”

[nrcbookclub]

[Shadows loom over the school campus as a large pair of wings block out the sun. Various students on campus are panicking. Some have a familiar collar around their necks. Others have a glass over their eyes, stumbling back to their dorms. Ink-stained feathers are scattered across the campus.]

[Several students, particularly the ones who have overblotted, get a notification pop-up, sort of like a video game system.]

Do you regret it?

✅/❌

— @nrcsfavoriteshrimps

(sorry if this isn’t very good, I had a bit of trouble with this ;-; /lh)

[Trystia is sat in the library, as she usually is, but this time it’s different. It’s clear they’re trying to figure out what’s going on while staying in what she assumes will be a safe space, at least for now. There’s a few books around on the table she was working at, abandoned as they moved to a more secluded area to hide until there was a determination of whether or not it was safe to move out of the area. Trystia is hoping it’s not an overblot, but knowing how this school is.. it’s probably an overblot.]

“..huh? What the- who’s messaging me? Fuck I hope the others are…”

[Trystia’s voice trails off as she notices something. The notification. Regret. She regrets a lot of things, but what could it be referring to? And if it was an overblot, why would they be asking her that..?

They choose the checkmark option. After a few seconds of deliberation, of course. It’s probably the safest option. Hopefully.]

you’re all good! sorry it took so long to respond, i decided to go to bed at 3 am on one of my last school nights and then crashed as soon as i got home </3

[nrcsfavoriteshrimps]

[The pop-up disappears, though the eerie air remains. Outside the window, a figure flies down from the main building to the botanical gardens.]

[A trail of feathers and ink are left behind. On the ground, a different winged figure, completely blot-colored, looks up with piercing gold eyes. It smiles, then disappears.]

[How odd.]

[nrcbookclub]

[Trystia watches the figure, having noticed it out of the corner of her eyes.

Sevens fucking damnit. Another overblot.

Their eyes trail towards the botanical gardens, considering. And Trystia, ever the bleeding heart, gets up and begins to move. Move towards the gardens that hold another overblotted student. Because she doesn’t want the school to get destroyed or something. Counterproductive considering she kinda lives here every part of the year but summer]

“Alright. This is fine. Normal even, considering this fucking school.”

[She’s in denial]

[nrcsfavoriteshrimps]

———

[In the gardens, a few people are scattered about. Chase is there, ducking behind some large leaves.]

“H-Hey, over here!” [he whispers out, eyes wide with terror. He waves them over hurriedly.] “Do you know what’s going on?! Why did Sadiya go cuckoo?!”

[Sadiya seems to be calmly walking around, though there’s a stumble to her steps. The apparition appears behind her, whispering something they can’t hear from where they are. Sadiya looks towards the direction of the apparition, and for a moment, her eyes seem clear. Still crying. Her eyes full of regret and shame. Then, she’s gone again, her eyes glazed back over and narrowing.]

“̵̥̩̽̔̃͗͝T̶̺̮͈̲́͘h̵̛̤ͅé̸̘͘ȳ̶̮̳͊́ ̷͕̳̘̇̏̃́͠f̸̭̏̋͊́ő̵̢̲̠̗̊͒l̵̪̄͘ļ̷͓̝́ö̷̙͍̰̠́̇̏̕w̴̦̎e̸͍̣̯̮̔̂͑͝ḓ̶̳̿?̴̙̗̚”̴̡̛̲̹͓̽͑̋ [Her voice comes out distorted and echoed.]

[The apparition seems to smile as it speaks,] “Indeed they did…they said they regretted it, but…can you be so sure?” [Its words make Sadiya pause.]

“̵͎́…̶̗̾ē̸̝v̶̗̽e̶̙͘ȓ̶̰y̶͍͝o̴͕̍n̵̥͂ē̴̺ ̴́͜ŝ̸̩a̴̘͌y̷͓͆ș̷̅ ̷̻̉t̴̜̓h̷̭̿a̷̲͊t̵͖͝…̷̡͗ḍ̸̃ó̵̫ ̶͓̀t̴̤̚h̸̻̿e̶̗̋y̶̳͆ ̴̯̿ḿ̴͔è̶̙a̴̬̔n̴͇͆ ̴̦̕i̵̫͠t̴͍̅…̵̫̀?̴̱̊”̷̼̋

“You know what…I don’t think they do. Shouldn’t you teach them a lesson?”

[Sadiya is quiet for a while.] “̴͙̈́…̴̡̑f̶̗̑i̶̥̍ń̵͙d̵̠̾ ̶͍̄ť̵̨ḫ̴͐e̵̯͘m̵̢̈́.̵̫̂”̵̣̎

“Of course, dear host…”

[The Apparition disappears again.]

[Chase’s ears are pointed back, tail between his legs. He’s trying to muffle his terrified sobs, barely managing to do so.]

“Sadiya, she…she wouldn’t do this willingly…s-someone has to be controlling her…right?”

[nrcbookclub]

[Trystia’s head snaps towards the other student surprisingly fast, and she seems to be trying to remember Chase’s name. After a few seconds she ends up standing near him, also hiding. They look at Sadiya for a second, brows furrowed as they just.. observe for a second, before turning to Chase]

“Uh.. Chase, right? I.. think she’s overblotted… but I’m trying to convince myself it’s not one because those are kind of a pain. For everyone involved. But first things first, are you ok?”

[She has clearly taken note of his terrified state, and is also cataloging the cries of the plants around her. Although they’re also trying to not panic, it’s clear Trystia is pretty good at keeping calm]

“You look… terrified. Or very scared, if you want a lighter term..”

[nrcsfavoriteshrimps]

“N-No, terrified is right…Sadiya is one of my closest friends…she wouldn’t…she isn’t…” [Chase explains, whimpering quietly.] “I’m worried about her…it’s kinda weird to say but this smells…different than the other overblots. Thicker…I think…?”

[While Sadiya stumbles to the far side of the garden, a trail of feathers is left behind. The apparition walks in the opposite direction. While Sadiya walks more like she’s being dragged, the apparition walks with purpose and focus. It hums, like it’s playing. But it isn’t. It’s hunting.]

“Now now, dear friends…why must you hide? I’m sure we could find a way to talk about things~!”

“That thing…” [Chase whispers,] “…it’s like it’s the one controlling her…not the other way around…”

[nrcbookclub]

[Trystia watches Sadiya and the apparition, both to analyze and keep an eye on the possible danger. She’s begun to whisper as well]

“…yeah. It looks different to me too. Plus the whole ‘do you regret it’ pop up… this is a weird overblot, that’s for sure.”

[They jump a bit at the sound of the voice, nodding along to Chase’s.. statement? Theory? Whatever it was, Trystia agrees. They have a hand on their magic pen, just in case]

“It definitely seems like that.. and the way it moves reminds me of some of the predator animals I’ve seen..”

[nrcsfavoriteshrimps]

[Chase sniffs the air, his eyes widening as he covers his mouth with his hands. The Apparition strolls behind them, seeming to giggle as it approaches.]

[Once it passes, Chase looks over.] “W-We might need backup…if this thing is this coherent, I don’t think the two of us are gonna be enough…” [he whimpers as he looks around for anybody else.] “W-Who else could we try to find…? Who else could even help…?”

[The apparition walks by again. It seems to be circling them, like a shark in the water. It knows they’re there. It’s just waiting for the perfect time to strike.]

[nrcbookclub]

[Trystia tenses, grip on her magic pen tightening, as the apparition gets closer. She nods silently while trying to think of a person who could help..]

“I- I don’t know.. I definitely agree we need help, two vs two-ish with a sentient thing during an overblot is a bad match up. And I’m down my unique magic..”

[The last part is said near silently, as they continue to watch the apparition and mentally prepare for a conflict between this thing and themself]

“I could send a message for the book club group chat, but I don’t know if any of them would get here in time..”

[nrcsfavoriteshrimps]

[Luckily for the duo, the Apparition is suddenly attacked by a winged figure. Is…is that Sadiya?! Fighting her own phantom?! Whatever’s happening, it gives Chase enough time to grab Trystia’s hands and drag her out of the garden.]

[Once outside, Chase huffs in exhaustion from the sudden sprint. From the windows, he sees the Apparition gripping Sadiya’s face, forcing her to look it in the eyes. The glass is cracked, so he can hear what’s being said:]

“Do you REALLY think they’ll EVER forgive you?!”

“N-No, but I—”

“YOU were the one that let your blot grow so much! It’s been building up all YEAR, and you didn’t do a thing about it?!”

“I didn’t want them to worry—”

“Oh, they’re not gonna worry. They’re gonna DESPISE you!!! You overblotted! You’re causing damage right now! Sevens, you’re just the scum of Twisted Wonderland, aren’t you?”

“You…”

“Did it finally click for you? That’s right. Since you kept your emotions bottled up for so long, and thanks to that magic of yours…I have control. You built up so much, I have POWER! I’m more than just your phantom…”

[The phantom’s eyes pulse. It seems like it’s using Snake Whisper…on Sadiya…and unlike Winter Break, it’s working.]

“I am the embodiment of your regrets and fears. Your guilt personified. I’ll make you hurt the ones you love, just so you feel worse. So that I get stronger. Because you’ll never be able to repent. You’ll never be forgiven. You will never be seen as good in the eyes of the Great Seven.”

“…”

“You’re the one that carries the weight of their guilt, because none of them can feel it. None of them suffer like you do. They deserve to suffer, just like you are right now.”

“̸̡̟̇̀̋…̸̤̈́I̶̧͈̮͠…̴̗̞̏̆͐”̶̬̹̮̐̆

“G o m a k e t h e m r e g r e t i t M O R E.”

“̴̡̲̻̇…̷̬͋͋̃͠I̵͉̙̥͂͛̅̏ ̴͍̲̼͉̼̖͛̀̉̽͗w̷͈̓͒̍ḯ̴̩͇̟̻̟̞̒̑l̷̛̩͉̋͠l̶̛̙̑͌͒…̴̨̻̦͛͗͝”̶̫̩́̈́͊̎̚͝

[Chase backs away from the glass, looking at the other student.] “Did you…hear it…? I-It was talking to her…telling her…”

[nrcbookclub]

[Trystia watches the situation at hand with wide eyes before flinching away from the glass at the sound of yelling. The familiar pulse of Snake Whisper has them stifling a gasp with her hand, looking towards Chase and simply nodding. After a few seconds of struggle, they speak again]

“I- I did.. it’s making her fight, I think. Make them regret..”

[She pinches her arm, a nervous habit, brows furrowed as they try to think. Their eyes widen at the end of the sentence they speak next]

“Regret, regret.. it keeps mentioning regret. What could it- oh shit.”

[nrcsfavoriteshrimps]

“W-What? What did you realize?!” [Chase asks, going to take a step forward. But his knees give out, and he falls to the ground.]

[He covers his mouth with his hands, suddenly feeling sick. This isn’t good.]

“What are we gonna do…?”

[nrcbookclub]

“Regret.. maybe related to overblots..? I can’t entirely explain my thought process but I just- it would make sense… I think.”

[Trystia startles when Chase falls, quickly doing a visual check of if he’s hurt]

“Right now..? Make sure we don’t like.. die. But long term, we need to make sure Sadiya like.. how do you phrase it? Snaps out of it. Reach out for help too maybe?”

[nrcsfavoriteshrimps]

[Chase thinks for a long moment, before suddenly perking up. He reaches for his phone, calling a certain contact that they can’t see from that angle.] “I-I know someone I can call!”

“五指！你能到植物园外面来一趟吗？很紧急！” [He seems to be speaking in a language one might recognize as this world’s Mandarin.] “是的！谢谢！”

[He turns to the other student, smiling.] “She’s on her way! We should hide now—”

[nrcbookclub]

“Oh, that’s good!”

[Trystia simply watches while Chase makes the call, shoulders un-tensing a bit in relief when Chase confirms help is on the way. They’re quick to find a place to hide from Sadiya and the blot monster]

“Who did you call? And thank you, for calling someone…”

[nrcsfavoriteshrimps]

“Just a friend of mine! She’s more suited to deal with others’ blot than I am…”

[Just a few moments after they hide, the Apparition approaches.]

“I know you’re there.”

[Chase slaps his hands over his mouth again. The Apparition strolls by the bush, its grin growing.]

“Why don’t you come on out? It’ll be so much easier…”

[It stops right in front of them.]

“There you—”

[WHACK!!!!]

[The sound of glass cracking is heard when a staff meets the Apparition’s head. It lands with a thud, looking up at the new person and growling.]

“You little—”

“A BA BA BA!” [Ai Wuzhi cuts the Apparition off.] “I was having a VERY NICE nap, and when I wake up? There’s a fuckin’ overblot?! Fuck off!”

[She goes to swing her staff again, but the Apparition dodges. In an instant, it gets up and flies away, clearly angry.]

“Wuzhi!” [Chase squeals, hopping out of the bush with his tail wagging.] “You made it!”

“Yeah…you’re lucky there was a good reason to wake me up.” [Wuzhi sighs, spinning her staff around before leaning on it.]

[Chase giggles. A moment of calm before the storm.]

[nrcbookclub]

[Trystia appears to be trying to make herself smaller, to hide better from the apparition. She looks up at it for the split second before it gets absolutely fucking whacked. They look shocked and relieved after it flies away, getting up much slower than Chase to greet Wuzhi]

“Thank the seven you arrived in time… and thank you for coming to help us. I doubt we could have done this just the two of us...”

[They give a small smile to Wuhzi]

“And that was pretty cool too.. soo..”

[nrcsfavoriteshrimps]

“Yeah, uh…thanks,” [she says, somewhat bashful.] “So uh…would either of you care to give me a rundown of what happened?”

“W-Well…um…” [Chase hesitates, looking over at Trystia for help.] “…?”

[nrcbookclub]

“Well.. Sadiya had overblotted. It’s a bit different though, the.. apparition that you whacked is much more in control than I’ve ever seen..”

[Trystia trails off before adding on another thing. They’ve been twirling a strand of hair around their finger this whole time]

“And I got a notification about regretting something earlier, which is what prompted me to come here. And Chase called you to help us deal with this and make sure nobody gets too hurt.”

[nrcsfavoriteshrimps]

“Tsk…” [Wuzhi clicks her tongue, putting a hand on her hip while tapping her foot.] “Goddamn overblots…always at the worst times…”

[It seems like she’s locking in…]

“This one is definitely smarter than the others…not only is it talking to us too, but it’s covering up its weakness…not completely, though. If you got a good look at its eyes and mouth, you could see the glass,” [Wuzhi remarks, humming.] “Strange that the ink is gold, though…maybe it’s because most of the blot is outside the bottle? Or is that a different form of blot? Anyways, yeah. Glad you guys are somewhat okay, at least.”

[Chase clears his throat, stepping forward.] “Well, Wuzhi…do you think you could help us? You said your unique magic can absorb other people’s blot before…!”

“Oh! Yeah, that’s…a pretty good idea. If I can absorb enough blot, it’ll be forced to reveal its weakness!” [She grins, straightening up and gripping her staff tightly.] “That way, we can break it! But…the problem is getting it to stay still for long enough…it seems to be using Sadiya like a puppet, rather than the other way around…”

“Right! So we should be careful of that!”

[nrcbookclub]

“I’m as ok as someone in this situation can be..”

[Trystia tilts her head, nodding along to the formations of the plan. They’re glancing around the area for things that might be useful in this.. or environmental advantages]

“Watching out for attacks will probably be harder than expected.. especially since y’know, aforementioned puppetry of Sadiya. Sooo.. maybe a distraction of some kind..?”

[nrcbookclub]

[Shadows loom over the school campus as a large pair of wings block out the sun. Various students on campus are panicking. Some have a familiar collar around their necks. Others have a glass over their eyes, stumbling back to their dorms. Ink-stained feathers are scattered across the campus.]

[Several students, particularly the ones who have overblotted, get a notification pop-up, sort of like a video game system.]

Do you regret it?

✅/❌

— @nrcsfavoriteshrimps

(sorry if this isn’t very good, I had a bit of trouble with this ;-; /lh)

[Trystia is sat in the library, as she usually is, but this time it’s different. It’s clear they’re trying to figure out what’s going on while staying in what she assumes will be a safe space, at least for now. There’s a few books around on the table she was working at, abandoned as they moved to a more secluded area to hide until there was a determination of whether or not it was safe to move out of the area. Trystia is hoping it’s not an overblot, but knowing how this school is.. it’s probably an overblot.]

“..huh? What the- who’s messaging me? Fuck I hope the others are…”

[Trystia’s voice trails off as she notices something. The notification. Regret. She regrets a lot of things, but what could it be referring to? And if it was an overblot, why would they be asking her that..?

They choose the checkmark option. After a few seconds of deliberation, of course. It’s probably the safest option. Hopefully.]

you’re all good! sorry it took so long to respond, i decided to go to bed at 3 am on one of my last school nights and then crashed as soon as i got home </3

[nrcsfavoriteshrimps]

[The pop-up disappears, though the eerie air remains. Outside the window, a figure flies down from the main building to the botanical gardens.]

[A trail of feathers and ink are left behind. On the ground, a different winged figure, completely blot-colored, looks up with piercing gold eyes. It smiles, then disappears.]

[How odd.]

[nrcbookclub]

[Trystia watches the figure, having noticed it out of the corner of her eyes.

Sevens fucking damnit. Another overblot.

Their eyes trail towards the botanical gardens, considering. And Trystia, ever the bleeding heart, gets up and begins to move. Move towards the gardens that hold another overblotted student. Because she doesn’t want the school to get destroyed or something. Counterproductive considering she kinda lives here every part of the year but summer]

“Alright. This is fine. Normal even, considering this fucking school.”

[She’s in denial]

[nrcsfavoriteshrimps]

———

[In the gardens, a few people are scattered about. Chase is there, ducking behind some large leaves.]

“H-Hey, over here!” [he whispers out, eyes wide with terror. He waves them over hurriedly.] “Do you know what’s going on?! Why did Sadiya go cuckoo?!”

[Sadiya seems to be calmly walking around, though there’s a stumble to her steps. The apparition appears behind her, whispering something they can’t hear from where they are. Sadiya looks towards the direction of the apparition, and for a moment, her eyes seem clear. Still crying. Her eyes full of regret and shame. Then, she’s gone again, her eyes glazed back over and narrowing.]

“̵̥̩̽̔̃͗͝T̶̺̮͈̲́͘h̵̛̤ͅé̸̘͘ȳ̶̮̳͊́ ̷͕̳̘̇̏̃́͠f̸̭̏̋͊́ő̵̢̲̠̗̊͒l̵̪̄͘ļ̷͓̝́ö̷̙͍̰̠́̇̏̕w̴̦̎e̸͍̣̯̮̔̂͑͝ḓ̶̳̿?̴̙̗̚”̴̡̛̲̹͓̽͑̋ [Her voice comes out distorted and echoed.]

[The apparition seems to smile as it speaks,] “Indeed they did…they said they regretted it, but…can you be so sure?” [Its words make Sadiya pause.]

“̵͎́…̶̗̾ē̸̝v̶̗̽e̶̙͘ȓ̶̰y̶͍͝o̴͕̍n̵̥͂ē̴̺ ̴́͜ŝ̸̩a̴̘͌y̷͓͆ș̷̅ ̷̻̉t̴̜̓h̷̭̿a̷̲͊t̵͖͝…̷̡͗ḍ̸̃ó̵̫ ̶͓̀t̴̤̚h̸̻̿e̶̗̋y̶̳͆ ̴̯̿ḿ̴͔è̶̙a̴̬̔n̴͇͆ ̴̦̕i̵̫͠t̴͍̅…̵̫̀?̴̱̊”̷̼̋

“You know what…I don’t think they do. Shouldn’t you teach them a lesson?”

[Sadiya is quiet for a while.] “̴͙̈́…̴̡̑f̶̗̑i̶̥̍ń̵͙d̵̠̾ ̶͍̄ť̵̨ḫ̴͐e̵̯͘m̵̢̈́.̵̫̂”̵̣̎

“Of course, dear host…”

[The Apparition disappears again.]

[Chase’s ears are pointed back, tail between his legs. He’s trying to muffle his terrified sobs, barely managing to do so.]

“Sadiya, she…she wouldn’t do this willingly…s-someone has to be controlling her…right?”

[nrcbookclub]

[Trystia’s head snaps towards the other student surprisingly fast, and she seems to be trying to remember Chase’s name. After a few seconds she ends up standing near him, also hiding. They look at Sadiya for a second, brows furrowed as they just.. observe for a second, before turning to Chase]

“Uh.. Chase, right? I.. think she’s overblotted… but I’m trying to convince myself it’s not one because those are kind of a pain. For everyone involved. But first things first, are you ok?”

[She has clearly taken note of his terrified state, and is also cataloging the cries of the plants around her. Although they’re also trying to not panic, it’s clear Trystia is pretty good at keeping calm]

“You look… terrified. Or very scared, if you want a lighter term..”

[nrcsfavoriteshrimps]

“N-No, terrified is right…Sadiya is one of my closest friends…she wouldn’t…she isn’t…” [Chase explains, whimpering quietly.] “I’m worried about her…it’s kinda weird to say but this smells…different than the other overblots. Thicker…I think…?”

[While Sadiya stumbles to the far side of the garden, a trail of feathers is left behind. The apparition walks in the opposite direction. While Sadiya walks more like she’s being dragged, the apparition walks with purpose and focus. It hums, like it’s playing. But it isn’t. It’s hunting.]

“Now now, dear friends…why must you hide? I’m sure we could find a way to talk about things~!”

“That thing…” [Chase whispers,] “…it’s like it’s the one controlling her…not the other way around…”

[nrcbookclub]

[Trystia watches Sadiya and the apparition, both to analyze and keep an eye on the possible danger. She’s begun to whisper as well]

“…yeah. It looks different to me too. Plus the whole ‘do you regret it’ pop up… this is a weird overblot, that’s for sure.”

[They jump a bit at the sound of the voice, nodding along to Chase’s.. statement? Theory? Whatever it was, Trystia agrees. They have a hand on their magic pen, just in case]

“It definitely seems like that.. and the way it moves reminds me of some of the predator animals I’ve seen..”

[nrcsfavoriteshrimps]

[Chase sniffs the air, his eyes widening as he covers his mouth with his hands. The Apparition strolls behind them, seeming to giggle as it approaches.]

[Once it passes, Chase looks over.] “W-We might need backup…if this thing is this coherent, I don’t think the two of us are gonna be enough…” [he whimpers as he looks around for anybody else.] “W-Who else could we try to find…? Who else could even help…?”

[The apparition walks by again. It seems to be circling them, like a shark in the water. It knows they’re there. It’s just waiting for the perfect time to strike.]

[nrcbookclub]

[Trystia tenses, grip on her magic pen tightening, as the apparition gets closer. She nods silently while trying to think of a person who could help..]

“I- I don’t know.. I definitely agree we need help, two vs two-ish with a sentient thing during an overblot is a bad match up. And I’m down my unique magic..”

[The last part is said near silently, as they continue to watch the apparition and mentally prepare for a conflict between this thing and themself]

“I could send a message for the book club group chat, but I don’t know if any of them would get here in time..”

[nrcsfavoriteshrimps]

[Luckily for the duo, the Apparition is suddenly attacked by a winged figure. Is…is that Sadiya?! Fighting her own phantom?! Whatever’s happening, it gives Chase enough time to grab Trystia’s hands and drag her out of the garden.]

[Once outside, Chase huffs in exhaustion from the sudden sprint. From the windows, he sees the Apparition gripping Sadiya’s face, forcing her to look it in the eyes. The glass is cracked, so he can hear what’s being said:]

“Do you REALLY think they’ll EVER forgive you?!”

“N-No, but I—”

“YOU were the one that let your blot grow so much! It’s been building up all YEAR, and you didn’t do a thing about it?!”

“I didn’t want them to worry—”

“Oh, they’re not gonna worry. They’re gonna DESPISE you!!! You overblotted! You’re causing damage right now! Sevens, you’re just the scum of Twisted Wonderland, aren’t you?”

“You…”

“Did it finally click for you? That’s right. Since you kept your emotions bottled up for so long, and thanks to that magic of yours…I have control. You built up so much, I have POWER! I’m more than just your phantom…”

[The phantom’s eyes pulse. It seems like it’s using Snake Whisper…on Sadiya…and unlike Winter Break, it’s working.]

“I am the embodiment of your regrets and fears. Your guilt personified. I’ll make you hurt the ones you love, just so you feel worse. So that I get stronger. Because you’ll never be able to repent. You’ll never be forgiven. You will never be seen as good in the eyes of the Great Seven.”

“…”

“You’re the one that carries the weight of their guilt, because none of them can feel it. None of them suffer like you do. They deserve to suffer, just like you are right now.”

“̸̡̟̇̀̋…̸̤̈́I̶̧͈̮͠…̴̗̞̏̆͐”̶̬̹̮̐̆

“G o m a k e t h e m r e g r e t i t M O R E.”

“̴̡̲̻̇…̷̬͋͋̃͠I̵͉̙̥͂͛̅̏ ̴͍̲̼͉̼̖͛̀̉̽͗w̷͈̓͒̍ḯ̴̩͇̟̻̟̞̒̑l̷̛̩͉̋͠l̶̛̙̑͌͒…̴̨̻̦͛͗͝”̶̫̩́̈́͊̎̚͝

[Chase backs away from the glass, looking at the other student.] “Did you…hear it…? I-It was talking to her…telling her…”

[nrcbookclub]

[Trystia watches the situation at hand with wide eyes before flinching away from the glass at the sound of yelling. The familiar pulse of Snake Whisper has them stifling a gasp with her hand, looking towards Chase and simply nodding. After a few seconds of struggle, they speak again]

“I- I did.. it’s making her fight, I think. Make them regret..”

[She pinches her arm, a nervous habit, brows furrowed as they try to think. Their eyes widen at the end of the sentence they speak next]

“Regret, regret.. it keeps mentioning regret. What could it- oh shit.”

[nrcsfavoriteshrimps]

“W-What? What did you realize?!” [Chase asks, going to take a step forward. But his knees give out, and he falls to the ground.]

[He covers his mouth with his hands, suddenly feeling sick. This isn’t good.]

“What are we gonna do…?”

[nrcbookclub]

“Regret.. maybe related to overblots..? I can’t entirely explain my thought process but I just- it would make sense… I think.”

[Trystia startles when Chase falls, quickly doing a visual check of if he’s hurt]

“Right now..? Make sure we don’t like.. die. But long term, we need to make sure Sadiya like.. how do you phrase it? Snaps out of it. Reach out for help too maybe?”

[nrcsfavoriteshrimps]

[Chase thinks for a long moment, before suddenly perking up. He reaches for his phone, calling a certain contact that they can’t see from that angle.] “I-I know someone I can call!”

“五指！你能到植物园外面来一趟吗？很紧急！” [He seems to be speaking in a language one might recognize as this world’s Mandarin.] “是的！谢谢！”

[He turns to the other student, smiling.] “She’s on her way! We should hide now—”

[nrcbookclub]

“Oh, that’s good!”

[Trystia simply watches while Chase makes the call, shoulders un-tensing a bit in relief when Chase confirms help is on the way. They’re quick to find a place to hide from Sadiya and the blot monster]

“Who did you call? And thank you, for calling someone…”

[nrcsfavoriteshrimps]

“Just a friend of mine! She’s more suited to deal with others’ blot than I am…”

[Just a few moments after they hide, the Apparition approaches.]

“I know you’re there.”

[Chase slaps his hands over his mouth again. The Apparition strolls by the bush, its grin growing.]

“Why don’t you come on out? It’ll be so much easier…”

[It stops right in front of them.]

“There you—”

[WHACK!!!!]

[The sound of glass cracking is heard when a staff meets the Apparition’s head. It lands with a thud, looking up at the new person and growling.]

“You little—”

“A BA BA BA!” [Ai Wuzhi cuts the Apparition off.] “I was having a VERY NICE nap, and when I wake up? There’s a fuckin’ overblot?! Fuck off!”

[She goes to swing her staff again, but the Apparition dodges. In an instant, it gets up and flies away, clearly angry.]

“Wuzhi!” [Chase squeals, hopping out of the bush with his tail wagging.] “You made it!”

“Yeah…you’re lucky there was a good reason to wake me up.” [Wuzhi sighs, spinning her staff around before leaning on it.]

[Chase giggles. A moment of calm before the storm.]

[nrcbookclub]

[Trystia appears to be trying to make herself smaller, to hide better from the apparition. She looks up at it for the split second before it gets absolutely fucking whacked. They look shocked and relieved after it flies away, getting up much slower than Chase to greet Wuzhi]

“Thank the seven you arrived in time… and thank you for coming to help us. I doubt we could have done this just the two of us...”

[They give a small smile to Wuhzi]

“And that was pretty cool too.. soo..”

[nrcsfavoriteshrimps]

“Yeah, uh…thanks,” [she says, somewhat bashful.] “So uh…would either of you care to give me a rundown of what happened?”

“W-Well…um…” [Chase hesitates, looking over at Trystia for help.] “…?”

[nrcbookclub]

“Well.. Sadiya had overblotted. It’s a bit different though, the.. apparition that you whacked is much more in control than I’ve ever seen..”

[Trystia trails off before adding on another thing. They’ve been twirling a strand of hair around their finger this whole time]

“And I got a notification about regretting something earlier, which is what prompted me to come here. And Chase called you to help us deal with this and make sure nobody gets too hurt.”

[nrcbookclub]

[Shadows loom over the school campus as a large pair of wings block out the sun. Various students on campus are panicking. Some have a familiar collar around their necks. Others have a glass over their eyes, stumbling back to their dorms. Ink-stained feathers are scattered across the campus.]

[Several students, particularly the ones who have overblotted, get a notification pop-up, sort of like a video game system.]

Do you regret it?

✅/❌

— @nrcsfavoriteshrimps

(sorry if this isn’t very good, I had a bit of trouble with this ;-; /lh)

[Trystia is sat in the library, as she usually is, but this time it’s different. It’s clear they’re trying to figure out what’s going on while staying in what she assumes will be a safe space, at least for now. There’s a few books around on the table she was working at, abandoned as they moved to a more secluded area to hide until there was a determination of whether or not it was safe to move out of the area. Trystia is hoping it’s not an overblot, but knowing how this school is.. it’s probably an overblot.]

“..huh? What the- who’s messaging me? Fuck I hope the others are…”

[Trystia’s voice trails off as she notices something. The notification. Regret. She regrets a lot of things, but what could it be referring to? And if it was an overblot, why would they be asking her that..?

They choose the checkmark option. After a few seconds of deliberation, of course. It’s probably the safest option. Hopefully.]

you’re all good! sorry it took so long to respond, i decided to go to bed at 3 am on one of my last school nights and then crashed as soon as i got home </3

[nrcsfavoriteshrimps]

[The pop-up disappears, though the eerie air remains. Outside the window, a figure flies down from the main building to the botanical gardens.]

[A trail of feathers and ink are left behind. On the ground, a different winged figure, completely blot-colored, looks up with piercing gold eyes. It smiles, then disappears.]

[How odd.]

[nrcbookclub]

[Trystia watches the figure, having noticed it out of the corner of her eyes.

Sevens fucking damnit. Another overblot.

Their eyes trail towards the botanical gardens, considering. And Trystia, ever the bleeding heart, gets up and begins to move. Move towards the gardens that hold another overblotted student. Because she doesn’t want the school to get destroyed or something. Counterproductive considering she kinda lives here every part of the year but summer]

“Alright. This is fine. Normal even, considering this fucking school.”

[She’s in denial]

[nrcsfavoriteshrimps]

———

[In the gardens, a few people are scattered about. Chase is there, ducking behind some large leaves.]

“H-Hey, over here!” [he whispers out, eyes wide with terror. He waves them over hurriedly.] “Do you know what’s going on?! Why did Sadiya go cuckoo?!”

[Sadiya seems to be calmly walking around, though there’s a stumble to her steps. The apparition appears behind her, whispering something they can’t hear from where they are. Sadiya looks towards the direction of the apparition, and for a moment, her eyes seem clear. Still crying. Her eyes full of regret and shame. Then, she’s gone again, her eyes glazed back over and narrowing.]

“̵̥̩̽̔̃͗͝T̶̺̮͈̲́͘h̵̛̤ͅé̸̘͘ȳ̶̮̳͊́ ̷͕̳̘̇̏̃́͠f̸̭̏̋͊́ő̵̢̲̠̗̊͒l̵̪̄͘ļ̷͓̝́ö̷̙͍̰̠́̇̏̕w̴̦̎e̸͍̣̯̮̔̂͑͝ḓ̶̳̿?̴̙̗̚”̴̡̛̲̹͓̽͑̋ [Her voice comes out distorted and echoed.]

[The apparition seems to smile as it speaks,] “Indeed they did…they said they regretted it, but…can you be so sure?” [Its words make Sadiya pause.]

“̵͎́…̶̗̾ē̸̝v̶̗̽e̶̙͘ȓ̶̰y̶͍͝o̴͕̍n̵̥͂ē̴̺ ̴́͜ŝ̸̩a̴̘͌y̷͓͆ș̷̅ ̷̻̉t̴̜̓h̷̭̿a̷̲͊t̵͖͝…̷̡͗ḍ̸̃ó̵̫ ̶͓̀t̴̤̚h̸̻̿e̶̗̋y̶̳͆ ̴̯̿ḿ̴͔è̶̙a̴̬̔n̴͇͆ ̴̦̕i̵̫͠t̴͍̅…̵̫̀?̴̱̊”̷̼̋

“You know what…I don’t think they do. Shouldn’t you teach them a lesson?”

[Sadiya is quiet for a while.] “̴͙̈́…̴̡̑f̶̗̑i̶̥̍ń̵͙d̵̠̾ ̶͍̄ť̵̨ḫ̴͐e̵̯͘m̵̢̈́.̵̫̂”̵̣̎

“Of course, dear host…”

[The Apparition disappears again.]

[Chase’s ears are pointed back, tail between his legs. He’s trying to muffle his terrified sobs, barely managing to do so.]

“Sadiya, she…she wouldn’t do this willingly…s-someone has to be controlling her…right?”

[nrcbookclub]

[Trystia’s head snaps towards the other student surprisingly fast, and she seems to be trying to remember Chase’s name. After a few seconds she ends up standing near him, also hiding. They look at Sadiya for a second, brows furrowed as they just.. observe for a second, before turning to Chase]

“Uh.. Chase, right? I.. think she’s overblotted… but I’m trying to convince myself it’s not one because those are kind of a pain. For everyone involved. But first things first, are you ok?”

[She has clearly taken note of his terrified state, and is also cataloging the cries of the plants around her. Although they’re also trying to not panic, it’s clear Trystia is pretty good at keeping calm]

“You look… terrified. Or very scared, if you want a lighter term..”

[nrcsfavoriteshrimps]

“N-No, terrified is right…Sadiya is one of my closest friends…she wouldn’t…she isn’t…” [Chase explains, whimpering quietly.] “I’m worried about her…it’s kinda weird to say but this smells…different than the other overblots. Thicker…I think…?”

[While Sadiya stumbles to the far side of the garden, a trail of feathers is left behind. The apparition walks in the opposite direction. While Sadiya walks more like she’s being dragged, the apparition walks with purpose and focus. It hums, like it’s playing. But it isn’t. It’s hunting.]

“Now now, dear friends…why must you hide? I’m sure we could find a way to talk about things~!”

“That thing…” [Chase whispers,] “…it’s like it’s the one controlling her…not the other way around…”

[nrcbookclub]

[Trystia watches Sadiya and the apparition, both to analyze and keep an eye on the possible danger. She’s begun to whisper as well]

“…yeah. It looks different to me too. Plus the whole ‘do you regret it’ pop up… this is a weird overblot, that’s for sure.”

[They jump a bit at the sound of the voice, nodding along to Chase’s.. statement? Theory? Whatever it was, Trystia agrees. They have a hand on their magic pen, just in case]

“It definitely seems like that.. and the way it moves reminds me of some of the predator animals I’ve seen..”

[nrcsfavoriteshrimps]

[Chase sniffs the air, his eyes widening as he covers his mouth with his hands. The Apparition strolls behind them, seeming to giggle as it approaches.]

[Once it passes, Chase looks over.] “W-We might need backup…if this thing is this coherent, I don’t think the two of us are gonna be enough…” [he whimpers as he looks around for anybody else.] “W-Who else could we try to find…? Who else could even help…?”

[The apparition walks by again. It seems to be circling them, like a shark in the water. It knows they’re there. It’s just waiting for the perfect time to strike.]

[nrcbookclub]

[Trystia tenses, grip on her magic pen tightening, as the apparition gets closer. She nods silently while trying to think of a person who could help..]

“I- I don’t know.. I definitely agree we need help, two vs two-ish with a sentient thing during an overblot is a bad match up. And I’m down my unique magic..”

[The last part is said near silently, as they continue to watch the apparition and mentally prepare for a conflict between this thing and themself]

“I could send a message for the book club group chat, but I don’t know if any of them would get here in time..”

[nrcsfavoriteshrimps]

[Luckily for the duo, the Apparition is suddenly attacked by a winged figure. Is…is that Sadiya?! Fighting her own phantom?! Whatever’s happening, it gives Chase enough time to grab Trystia’s hands and drag her out of the garden.]

[Once outside, Chase huffs in exhaustion from the sudden sprint. From the windows, he sees the Apparition gripping Sadiya’s face, forcing her to look it in the eyes. The glass is cracked, so he can hear what’s being said:]

“Do you REALLY think they’ll EVER forgive you?!”

“N-No, but I—”

“YOU were the one that let your blot grow so much! It’s been building up all YEAR, and you didn’t do a thing about it?!”

“I didn’t want them to worry—”

“Oh, they’re not gonna worry. They’re gonna DESPISE you!!! You overblotted! You’re causing damage right now! Sevens, you’re just the scum of Twisted Wonderland, aren’t you?”

“You…”

“Did it finally click for you? That’s right. Since you kept your emotions bottled up for so long, and thanks to that magic of yours…I have control. You built up so much, I have POWER! I’m more than just your phantom…”

[The phantom’s eyes pulse. It seems like it’s using Snake Whisper…on Sadiya…and unlike Winter Break, it’s working.]

“I am the embodiment of your regrets and fears. Your guilt personified. I’ll make you hurt the ones you love, just so you feel worse. So that I get stronger. Because you’ll never be able to repent. You’ll never be forgiven. You will never be seen as good in the eyes of the Great Seven.”

“…”

“You’re the one that carries the weight of their guilt, because none of them can feel it. None of them suffer like you do. They deserve to suffer, just like you are right now.”

“̸̡̟̇̀̋…̸̤̈́I̶̧͈̮͠…̴̗̞̏̆͐”̶̬̹̮̐̆

“G o m a k e t h e m r e g r e t i t M O R E.”

“̴̡̲̻̇…̷̬͋͋̃͠I̵͉̙̥͂͛̅̏ ̴͍̲̼͉̼̖͛̀̉̽͗w̷͈̓͒̍ḯ̴̩͇̟̻̟̞̒̑l̷̛̩͉̋͠l̶̛̙̑͌͒…̴̨̻̦͛͗͝”̶̫̩́̈́͊̎̚͝

[Chase backs away from the glass, looking at the other student.] “Did you…hear it…? I-It was talking to her…telling her…”

[nrcbookclub]

[Trystia watches the situation at hand with wide eyes before flinching away from the glass at the sound of yelling. The familiar pulse of Snake Whisper has them stifling a gasp with her hand, looking towards Chase and simply nodding. After a few seconds of struggle, they speak again]

“I- I did.. it’s making her fight, I think. Make them regret..”

[She pinches her arm, a nervous habit, brows furrowed as they try to think. Their eyes widen at the end of the sentence they speak next]

“Regret, regret.. it keeps mentioning regret. What could it- oh shit.”

[nrcsfavoriteshrimps]

“W-What? What did you realize?!” [Chase asks, going to take a step forward. But his knees give out, and he falls to the ground.]

[He covers his mouth with his hands, suddenly feeling sick. This isn’t good.]

“What are we gonna do…?”

[nrcbookclub]

“Regret.. maybe related to overblots..? I can’t entirely explain my thought process but I just- it would make sense… I think.”

[Trystia startles when Chase falls, quickly doing a visual check of if he’s hurt]

“Right now..? Make sure we don’t like.. die. But long term, we need to make sure Sadiya like.. how do you phrase it? Snaps out of it. Reach out for help too maybe?”

[nrcsfavoriteshrimps]

[Chase thinks for a long moment, before suddenly perking up. He reaches for his phone, calling a certain contact that they can’t see from that angle.] “I-I know someone I can call!”

“五指！你能到植物园外面来一趟吗？很紧急！” [He seems to be speaking in a language one might recognize as this world’s Mandarin.] “是的！谢谢！”

[He turns to the other student, smiling.] “She’s on her way! We should hide now—”

[nrcbookclub]

“Oh, that’s good!”

[Trystia simply watches while Chase makes the call, shoulders un-tensing a bit in relief when Chase confirms help is on the way. They’re quick to find a place to hide from Sadiya and the blot monster]

“Who did you call? And thank you, for calling someone…”

[nrcsfavoriteshrimps]

“Just a friend of mine! She’s more suited to deal with others’ blot than I am…”

[Just a few moments after they hide, the Apparition approaches.]

“I know you’re there.”

[Chase slaps his hands over his mouth again. The Apparition strolls by the bush, its grin growing.]

“Why don’t you come on out? It’ll be so much easier…”

[It stops right in front of them.]

“There you—”

[WHACK!!!!]

[The sound of glass cracking is heard when a staff meets the Apparition’s head. It lands with a thud, looking up at the new person and growling.]

“You little—”

“A BA BA BA!” [Ai Wuzhi cuts the Apparition off.] “I was having a VERY NICE nap, and when I wake up? There’s a fuckin’ overblot?! Fuck off!”

[She goes to swing her staff again, but the Apparition dodges. In an instant, it gets up and flies away, clearly angry.]

“Wuzhi!” [Chase squeals, hopping out of the bush with his tail wagging.] “You made it!”

“Yeah…you’re lucky there was a good reason to wake me up.” [Wuzhi sighs, spinning her staff around before leaning on it.]

[Chase giggles. A moment of calm before the storm.]

[nrcbookclub]

[Trystia appears to be trying to make herself smaller, to hide better from the apparition. She looks up at it for the split second before it gets absolutely fucking whacked. They look shocked and relieved after it flies away, getting up much slower than Chase to greet Wuzhi]

“Thank the seven you arrived in time… and thank you for coming to help us. I doubt we could have done this just the two of us...”

[They give a small smile to Wuhzi]

“And that was pretty cool too.. soo..”

[nrcbookclub]

[Shadows loom over the school campus as a large pair of wings block out the sun. Various students on campus are panicking. Some have a familiar collar around their necks. Others have a glass over their eyes, stumbling back to their dorms. Ink-stained feathers are scattered across the campus.]

[Several students, particularly the ones who have overblotted, get a notification pop-up, sort of like a video game system.]

Do you regret it?

✅/❌

— @nrcsfavoriteshrimps

(sorry if this isn’t very good, I had a bit of trouble with this ;-; /lh)

[Trystia is sat in the library, as she usually is, but this time it’s different. It’s clear they’re trying to figure out what’s going on while staying in what she assumes will be a safe space, at least for now. There’s a few books around on the table she was working at, abandoned as they moved to a more secluded area to hide until there was a determination of whether or not it was safe to move out of the area. Trystia is hoping it’s not an overblot, but knowing how this school is.. it’s probably an overblot.]

“..huh? What the- who’s messaging me? Fuck I hope the others are…”

[Trystia’s voice trails off as she notices something. The notification. Regret. She regrets a lot of things, but what could it be referring to? And if it was an overblot, why would they be asking her that..?

They choose the checkmark option. After a few seconds of deliberation, of course. It’s probably the safest option. Hopefully.]

you’re all good! sorry it took so long to respond, i decided to go to bed at 3 am on one of my last school nights and then crashed as soon as i got home </3

[nrcsfavoriteshrimps]

[The pop-up disappears, though the eerie air remains. Outside the window, a figure flies down from the main building to the botanical gardens.]

[A trail of feathers and ink are left behind. On the ground, a different winged figure, completely blot-colored, looks up with piercing gold eyes. It smiles, then disappears.]

[How odd.]

[nrcbookclub]

[Trystia watches the figure, having noticed it out of the corner of her eyes.

Sevens fucking damnit. Another overblot.

Their eyes trail towards the botanical gardens, considering. And Trystia, ever the bleeding heart, gets up and begins to move. Move towards the gardens that hold another overblotted student. Because she doesn’t want the school to get destroyed or something. Counterproductive considering she kinda lives here every part of the year but summer]

“Alright. This is fine. Normal even, considering this fucking school.”

[She’s in denial]

[nrcsfavoriteshrimps]

———

[In the gardens, a few people are scattered about. Chase is there, ducking behind some large leaves.]

“H-Hey, over here!” [he whispers out, eyes wide with terror. He waves them over hurriedly.] “Do you know what’s going on?! Why did Sadiya go cuckoo?!”

[Sadiya seems to be calmly walking around, though there’s a stumble to her steps. The apparition appears behind her, whispering something they can’t hear from where they are. Sadiya looks towards the direction of the apparition, and for a moment, her eyes seem clear. Still crying. Her eyes full of regret and shame. Then, she’s gone again, her eyes glazed back over and narrowing.]

“̵̥̩̽̔̃͗͝T̶̺̮͈̲́͘h̵̛̤ͅé̸̘͘ȳ̶̮̳͊́ ̷͕̳̘̇̏̃́͠f̸̭̏̋͊́ő̵̢̲̠̗̊͒l̵̪̄͘ļ̷͓̝́ö̷̙͍̰̠́̇̏̕w̴̦̎e̸͍̣̯̮̔̂͑͝ḓ̶̳̿?̴̙̗̚”̴̡̛̲̹͓̽͑̋ [Her voice comes out distorted and echoed.]

[The apparition seems to smile as it speaks,] “Indeed they did…they said they regretted it, but…can you be so sure?” [Its words make Sadiya pause.]

“̵͎́…̶̗̾ē̸̝v̶̗̽e̶̙͘ȓ̶̰y̶͍͝o̴͕̍n̵̥͂ē̴̺ ̴́͜ŝ̸̩a̴̘͌y̷͓͆ș̷̅ ̷̻̉t̴̜̓h̷̭̿a̷̲͊t̵͖͝…̷̡͗ḍ̸̃ó̵̫ ̶͓̀t̴̤̚h̸̻̿e̶̗̋y̶̳͆ ̴̯̿ḿ̴͔è̶̙a̴̬̔n̴͇͆ ̴̦̕i̵̫͠t̴͍̅…̵̫̀?̴̱̊”̷̼̋

“You know what…I don’t think they do. Shouldn’t you teach them a lesson?”

[Sadiya is quiet for a while.] “̴͙̈́…̴̡̑f̶̗̑i̶̥̍ń̵͙d̵̠̾ ̶͍̄ť̵̨ḫ̴͐e̵̯͘m̵̢̈́.̵̫̂”̵̣̎

“Of course, dear host…”

[The Apparition disappears again.]

[Chase’s ears are pointed back, tail between his legs. He’s trying to muffle his terrified sobs, barely managing to do so.]

“Sadiya, she…she wouldn’t do this willingly…s-someone has to be controlling her…right?”

[nrcbookclub]

[Trystia’s head snaps towards the other student surprisingly fast, and she seems to be trying to remember Chase’s name. After a few seconds she ends up standing near him, also hiding. They look at Sadiya for a second, brows furrowed as they just.. observe for a second, before turning to Chase]

“Uh.. Chase, right? I.. think she’s overblotted… but I’m trying to convince myself it’s not one because those are kind of a pain. For everyone involved. But first things first, are you ok?”

[She has clearly taken note of his terrified state, and is also cataloging the cries of the plants around her. Although they’re also trying to not panic, it’s clear Trystia is pretty good at keeping calm]

“You look… terrified. Or very scared, if you want a lighter term..”

[nrcsfavoriteshrimps]

“N-No, terrified is right…Sadiya is one of my closest friends…she wouldn’t…she isn’t…” [Chase explains, whimpering quietly.] “I’m worried about her…it’s kinda weird to say but this smells…different than the other overblots. Thicker…I think…?”

[While Sadiya stumbles to the far side of the garden, a trail of feathers is left behind. The apparition walks in the opposite direction. While Sadiya walks more like she’s being dragged, the apparition walks with purpose and focus. It hums, like it’s playing. But it isn’t. It’s hunting.]

“Now now, dear friends…why must you hide? I’m sure we could find a way to talk about things~!”

“That thing…” [Chase whispers,] “…it’s like it’s the one controlling her…not the other way around…”

[nrcbookclub]

[Trystia watches Sadiya and the apparition, both to analyze and keep an eye on the possible danger. She’s begun to whisper as well]

“…yeah. It looks different to me too. Plus the whole ‘do you regret it’ pop up… this is a weird overblot, that’s for sure.”

[They jump a bit at the sound of the voice, nodding along to Chase’s.. statement? Theory? Whatever it was, Trystia agrees. They have a hand on their magic pen, just in case]

“It definitely seems like that.. and the way it moves reminds me of some of the predator animals I’ve seen..”

[nrcsfavoriteshrimps]

[Chase sniffs the air, his eyes widening as he covers his mouth with his hands. The Apparition strolls behind them, seeming to giggle as it approaches.]

[Once it passes, Chase looks over.] “W-We might need backup…if this thing is this coherent, I don’t think the two of us are gonna be enough…” [he whimpers as he looks around for anybody else.] “W-Who else could we try to find…? Who else could even help…?”

[The apparition walks by again. It seems to be circling them, like a shark in the water. It knows they’re there. It’s just waiting for the perfect time to strike.]

[nrcbookclub]

[Trystia tenses, grip on her magic pen tightening, as the apparition gets closer. She nods silently while trying to think of a person who could help..]

“I- I don’t know.. I definitely agree we need help, two vs two-ish with a sentient thing during an overblot is a bad match up. And I’m down my unique magic..”

[The last part is said near silently, as they continue to watch the apparition and mentally prepare for a conflict between this thing and themself]

“I could send a message for the book club group chat, but I don’t know if any of them would get here in time..”

[nrcsfavoriteshrimps]

[Luckily for the duo, the Apparition is suddenly attacked by a winged figure. Is…is that Sadiya?! Fighting her own phantom?! Whatever’s happening, it gives Chase enough time to grab Trystia’s hands and drag her out of the garden.]

[Once outside, Chase huffs in exhaustion from the sudden sprint. From the windows, he sees the Apparition gripping Sadiya’s face, forcing her to look it in the eyes. The glass is cracked, so he can hear what’s being said:]

“Do you REALLY think they’ll EVER forgive you?!”

“N-No, but I—”

“YOU were the one that let your blot grow so much! It’s been building up all YEAR, and you didn’t do a thing about it?!”

“I didn’t want them to worry—”

“Oh, they’re not gonna worry. They’re gonna DESPISE you!!! You overblotted! You’re causing damage right now! Sevens, you’re just the scum of Twisted Wonderland, aren’t you?”

“You…”

“Did it finally click for you? That’s right. Since you kept your emotions bottled up for so long, and thanks to that magic of yours…I have control. You built up so much, I have POWER! I’m more than just your phantom…”

[The phantom’s eyes pulse. It seems like it’s using Snake Whisper…on Sadiya…and unlike Winter Break, it’s working.]

“I am the embodiment of your regrets and fears. Your guilt personified. I’ll make you hurt the ones you love, just so you feel worse. So that I get stronger. Because you’ll never be able to repent. You’ll never be forgiven. You will never be seen as good in the eyes of the Great Seven.”

“…”

“You’re the one that carries the weight of their guilt, because none of them can feel it. None of them suffer like you do. They deserve to suffer, just like you are right now.”

“̸̡̟̇̀̋…̸̤̈́I̶̧͈̮͠…̴̗̞̏̆͐”̶̬̹̮̐̆

“G o m a k e t h e m r e g r e t i t M O R E.”

“̴̡̲̻̇…̷̬͋͋̃͠I̵͉̙̥͂͛̅̏ ̴͍̲̼͉̼̖͛̀̉̽͗w̷͈̓͒̍ḯ̴̩͇̟̻̟̞̒̑l̷̛̩͉̋͠l̶̛̙̑͌͒…̴̨̻̦͛͗͝”̶̫̩́̈́͊̎̚͝

[Chase backs away from the glass, looking at the other student.] “Did you…hear it…? I-It was talking to her…telling her…”

[nrcbookclub]

[Trystia watches the situation at hand with wide eyes before flinching away from the glass at the sound of yelling. The familiar pulse of Snake Whisper has them stifling a gasp with her hand, looking towards Chase and simply nodding. After a few seconds of struggle, they speak again]

“I- I did.. it’s making her fight, I think. Make them regret..”

[She pinches her arm, a nervous habit, brows furrowed as they try to think. Their eyes widen at the end of the sentence they speak next]

“Regret, regret.. it keeps mentioning regret. What could it- oh shit.”

[nrcsfavoriteshrimps]

“W-What? What did you realize?!” [Chase asks, going to take a step forward. But his knees give out, and he falls to the ground.]

[He covers his mouth with his hands, suddenly feeling sick. This isn’t good.]

“What are we gonna do…?”

[nrcbookclub]

“Regret.. maybe related to overblots..? I can’t entirely explain my thought process but I just- it would make sense… I think.”

[Trystia startles when Chase falls, quickly doing a visual check of if he’s hurt]

“Right now..? Make sure we don’t like.. die. But long term, we need to make sure Sadiya like.. how do you phrase it? Snaps out of it. Reach out for help too maybe?”

[nrcsfavoriteshrimps]

[Chase thinks for a long moment, before suddenly perking up. He reaches for his phone, calling a certain contact that they can’t see from that angle.] “I-I know someone I can call!”

“五指！你能到植物园外面来一趟吗？很紧急！” [He seems to be speaking in a language one might recognize as this world’s Mandarin.] “是的！谢谢！”

[He turns to the other student, smiling.] “She’s on her way! We should hide now—”

[nrcbookclub]

“Oh, that’s good!”

[Trystia simply watches while Chase makes the call, shoulders un-tensing a bit in relief when Chase confirms help is on the way. They’re quick to find a place to hide from Sadiya and the blot monster]

“Who did you call? And thank you, for calling someone…”

[nrcbookclub]

Ok so i feel like i need to post this

Id like to formally apologize for being unreliable in rp stuff

I wont dive into it, but i am pretty, if not extremely, mentally ill. I have issues with motivation, memory and telling how much time has passed without a reminder due to a few things wrong with me and the last week has been a whirlwind of stress and a loss of motivation

Its not an excuse, but i couldnt try to respond to things without getting hit with a wave of exhaustion.

Im not abandoning this blog, ever. Unless something big happens. Ive had it since freshman year of high school and its been a wonderful time on here.

However, my plan is to do a few things(redo the pinned post, finish the student profiles, etc) and then do rping again(i have plans)

Again, im sorry for being unreliable!

[nrcbookclub]

Pinned post has been redone.

[nrcbookclub]

Ok so i feel like i need to post this

Id like to formally apologize for being unreliable in rp stuff

I wont dive into it, but i am pretty, if not extremely, mentally ill. I have issues with motivation, memory and telling how much time has passed without a reminder due to a few things wrong with me and the last week has been a whirlwind of stress and a loss of motivation

Its not an excuse, but i couldnt try to respond to things without getting hit with a wave of exhaustion.

Im not abandoning this blog, ever. Unless something big happens. Ive had it since freshman year of high school and its been a wonderful time on here.

However, my plan is to do a few things(redo the pinned post, finish the student profiles, etc) and then do rping again(i have plans)

Again, im sorry for being unreliable!

[nrcbookclub]

[Shadows loom over the school campus as a large pair of wings block out the sun. Various students on campus are panicking. Some have a familiar collar around their necks. Others have a glass over their eyes, stumbling back to their dorms. Ink-stained feathers are scattered across the campus.]

[Several students, particularly the ones who have overblotted, get a notification pop-up, sort of like a video game system.]

Do you regret it?

✅/❌

— @nrcsfavoriteshrimps

(sorry if this isn’t very good, I had a bit of trouble with this ;-; /lh)

[Trystia is sat in the library, as she usually is, but this time it’s different. It’s clear they’re trying to figure out what’s going on while staying in what she assumes will be a safe space, at least for now. There’s a few books around on the table she was working at, abandoned as they moved to a more secluded area to hide until there was a determination of whether or not it was safe to move out of the area. Trystia is hoping it’s not an overblot, but knowing how this school is.. it’s probably an overblot.]

“..huh? What the- who’s messaging me? Fuck I hope the others are…”

[Trystia’s voice trails off as she notices something. The notification. Regret. She regrets a lot of things, but what could it be referring to? And if it was an overblot, why would they be asking her that..?

They choose the checkmark option. After a few seconds of deliberation, of course. It’s probably the safest option. Hopefully.]

you’re all good! sorry it took so long to respond, i decided to go to bed at 3 am on one of my last school nights and then crashed as soon as i got home </3

[nrcsfavoriteshrimps]

[The pop-up disappears, though the eerie air remains. Outside the window, a figure flies down from the main building to the botanical gardens.]

[A trail of feathers and ink are left behind. On the ground, a different winged figure, completely blot-colored, looks up with piercing gold eyes. It smiles, then disappears.]

[How odd.]

[nrcbookclub]

[Trystia watches the figure, having noticed it out of the corner of her eyes.

Sevens fucking damnit. Another overblot.

Their eyes trail towards the botanical gardens, considering. And Trystia, ever the bleeding heart, gets up and begins to move. Move towards the gardens that hold another overblotted student. Because she doesn’t want the school to get destroyed or something. Counterproductive considering she kinda lives here every part of the year but summer]

“Alright. This is fine. Normal even, considering this fucking school.”

[She’s in denial]

[nrcsfavoriteshrimps]

———

[In the gardens, a few people are scattered about. Chase is there, ducking behind some large leaves.]

“H-Hey, over here!” [he whispers out, eyes wide with terror. He waves them over hurriedly.] “Do you know what’s going on?! Why did Sadiya go cuckoo?!”

[Sadiya seems to be calmly walking around, though there’s a stumble to her steps. The apparition appears behind her, whispering something they can’t hear from where they are. Sadiya looks towards the direction of the apparition, and for a moment, her eyes seem clear. Still crying. Her eyes full of regret and shame. Then, she’s gone again, her eyes glazed back over and narrowing.]

“̵̥̩̽̔̃͗͝T̶̺̮͈̲́͘h̵̛̤ͅé̸̘͘ȳ̶̮̳͊́ ̷͕̳̘̇̏̃́͠f̸̭̏̋͊́ő̵̢̲̠̗̊͒l̵̪̄͘ļ̷͓̝́ö̷̙͍̰̠́̇̏̕w̴̦̎e̸͍̣̯̮̔̂͑͝ḓ̶̳̿?̴̙̗̚”̴̡̛̲̹͓̽͑̋ [Her voice comes out distorted and echoed.]

[The apparition seems to smile as it speaks,] “Indeed they did…they said they regretted it, but…can you be so sure?” [Its words make Sadiya pause.]

“̵͎́…̶̗̾ē̸̝v̶̗̽e̶̙͘ȓ̶̰y̶͍͝o̴͕̍n̵̥͂ē̴̺ ̴́͜ŝ̸̩a̴̘͌y̷͓͆ș̷̅ ̷̻̉t̴̜̓h̷̭̿a̷̲͊t̵͖͝…̷̡͗ḍ̸̃ó̵̫ ̶͓̀t̴̤̚h̸̻̿e̶̗̋y̶̳͆ ̴̯̿ḿ̴͔è̶̙a̴̬̔n̴͇͆ ̴̦̕i̵̫͠t̴͍̅…̵̫̀?̴̱̊”̷̼̋

“You know what…I don’t think they do. Shouldn’t you teach them a lesson?”

[Sadiya is quiet for a while.] “̴͙̈́…̴̡̑f̶̗̑i̶̥̍ń̵͙d̵̠̾ ̶͍̄ť̵̨ḫ̴͐e̵̯͘m̵̢̈́.̵̫̂”̵̣̎

“Of course, dear host…”

[The Apparition disappears again.]

[Chase’s ears are pointed back, tail between his legs. He’s trying to muffle his terrified sobs, barely managing to do so.]

“Sadiya, she…she wouldn’t do this willingly…s-someone has to be controlling her…right?”

[nrcbookclub]

[Trystia’s head snaps towards the other student surprisingly fast, and she seems to be trying to remember Chase’s name. After a few seconds she ends up standing near him, also hiding. They look at Sadiya for a second, brows furrowed as they just.. observe for a second, before turning to Chase]

“Uh.. Chase, right? I.. think she’s overblotted… but I’m trying to convince myself it’s not one because those are kind of a pain. For everyone involved. But first things first, are you ok?”

[She has clearly taken note of his terrified state, and is also cataloging the cries of the plants around her. Although they’re also trying to not panic, it’s clear Trystia is pretty good at keeping calm]

“You look… terrified. Or very scared, if you want a lighter term..”

[nrcsfavoriteshrimps]

“N-No, terrified is right…Sadiya is one of my closest friends…she wouldn’t…she isn’t…” [Chase explains, whimpering quietly.] “I’m worried about her…it’s kinda weird to say but this smells…different than the other overblots. Thicker…I think…?”

[While Sadiya stumbles to the far side of the garden, a trail of feathers is left behind. The apparition walks in the opposite direction. While Sadiya walks more like she’s being dragged, the apparition walks with purpose and focus. It hums, like it’s playing. But it isn’t. It’s hunting.]

“Now now, dear friends…why must you hide? I’m sure we could find a way to talk about things~!”

“That thing…” [Chase whispers,] “…it’s like it’s the one controlling her…not the other way around…”

[nrcbookclub]

[Trystia watches Sadiya and the apparition, both to analyze and keep an eye on the possible danger. She’s begun to whisper as well]

“…yeah. It looks different to me too. Plus the whole ‘do you regret it’ pop up… this is a weird overblot, that’s for sure.”

[They jump a bit at the sound of the voice, nodding along to Chase’s.. statement? Theory? Whatever it was, Trystia agrees. They have a hand on their magic pen, just in case]

“It definitely seems like that.. and the way it moves reminds me of some of the predator animals I’ve seen..”

[nrcsfavoriteshrimps]

[Chase sniffs the air, his eyes widening as he covers his mouth with his hands. The Apparition strolls behind them, seeming to giggle as it approaches.]

[Once it passes, Chase looks over.] “W-We might need backup…if this thing is this coherent, I don’t think the two of us are gonna be enough…” [he whimpers as he looks around for anybody else.] “W-Who else could we try to find…? Who else could even help…?”

[The apparition walks by again. It seems to be circling them, like a shark in the water. It knows they’re there. It’s just waiting for the perfect time to strike.]

[nrcbookclub]

[Trystia tenses, grip on her magic pen tightening, as the apparition gets closer. She nods silently while trying to think of a person who could help..]

“I- I don’t know.. I definitely agree we need help, two vs two-ish with a sentient thing during an overblot is a bad match up. And I’m down my unique magic..”

[The last part is said near silently, as they continue to watch the apparition and mentally prepare for a conflict between this thing and themself]

“I could send a message for the book club group chat, but I don’t know if any of them would get here in time..”

[nrcsfavoriteshrimps]

[Luckily for the duo, the Apparition is suddenly attacked by a winged figure. Is…is that Sadiya?! Fighting her own phantom?! Whatever’s happening, it gives Chase enough time to grab Trystia’s hands and drag her out of the garden.]

[Once outside, Chase huffs in exhaustion from the sudden sprint. From the windows, he sees the Apparition gripping Sadiya’s face, forcing her to look it in the eyes. The glass is cracked, so he can hear what’s being said:]

“Do you REALLY think they’ll EVER forgive you?!”

“N-No, but I—”

“YOU were the one that let your blot grow so much! It’s been building up all YEAR, and you didn’t do a thing about it?!”

“I didn’t want them to worry—”

“Oh, they’re not gonna worry. They’re gonna DESPISE you!!! You overblotted! You’re causing damage right now! Sevens, you’re just the scum of Twisted Wonderland, aren’t you?”

“You…”

“Did it finally click for you? That’s right. Since you kept your emotions bottled up for so long, and thanks to that magic of yours…I have control. You built up so much, I have POWER! I’m more than just your phantom…”

[The phantom’s eyes pulse. It seems like it’s using Snake Whisper…on Sadiya…and unlike Winter Break, it’s working.]

“I am the embodiment of your regrets and fears. Your guilt personified. I’ll make you hurt the ones you love, just so you feel worse. So that I get stronger. Because you’ll never be able to repent. You’ll never be forgiven. You will never be seen as good in the eyes of the Great Seven.”

“…”

“You’re the one that carries the weight of their guilt, because none of them can feel it. None of them suffer like you do. They deserve to suffer, just like you are right now.”

“̸̡̟̇̀̋…̸̤̈́I̶̧͈̮͠…̴̗̞̏̆͐”̶̬̹̮̐̆

“G o m a k e t h e m r e g r e t i t M O R E.”

“̴̡̲̻̇…̷̬͋͋̃͠I̵͉̙̥͂͛̅̏ ̴͍̲̼͉̼̖͛̀̉̽͗w̷͈̓͒̍ḯ̴̩͇̟̻̟̞̒̑l̷̛̩͉̋͠l̶̛̙̑͌͒…̴̨̻̦͛͗͝”̶̫̩́̈́͊̎̚͝

[Chase backs away from the glass, looking at the other student.] “Did you…hear it…? I-It was talking to her…telling her…”

[nrcbookclub]

[Trystia watches the situation at hand with wide eyes before flinching away from the glass at the sound of yelling. The familiar pulse of Snake Whisper has them stifling a gasp with her hand, looking towards Chase and simply nodding. After a few seconds of struggle, they speak again]

“I- I did.. it’s making her fight, I think. Make them regret..”

[She pinches her arm, a nervous habit, brows furrowed as they try to think. Their eyes widen at the end of the sentence they speak next]

“Regret, regret.. it keeps mentioning regret. What could it- oh shit.”

[nrcsfavoriteshrimps]

“W-What? What did you realize?!” [Chase asks, going to take a step forward. But his knees give out, and he falls to the ground.]

[He covers his mouth with his hands, suddenly feeling sick. This isn’t good.]

“What are we gonna do…?”

[nrcbookclub]

“Regret.. maybe related to overblots..? I can’t entirely explain my thought process but I just- it would make sense… I think.”

[Trystia startles when Chase falls, quickly doing a visual check of if he’s hurt]

“Right now..? Make sure we don’t like.. die. But long term, we need to make sure Sadiya like.. how do you phrase it? Snaps out of it. Reach out for help too maybe?”