Brightdow--Ribbon--at your service.

This entire blog has a gore warning by the way so uh read some of these at your own risk. idk how we got here

[shadow-but-bright]

[Intro is still in progress! and likely will be in progress forever! yay!]

Character Reference Sheet

click for better quality

*okay so this ref sheet is only accurate for like half the time but this took me Forever so i’m not redrawing it ever again(lying, probably) so just like. use this as a base. i tried okay

**he doesn’t actually wear his cloak thing like ever so envision him in his tan clothes if nothing else-

Full PFP

yes this is an in stars and time screenie redraw-

Regarding Ribbon and Zomi [WIP]

Zomi(it/its) is someone who has started to exist after and during the end of the metaphor of chains arc. The trauma regarding being alive was too much for either it or him, neither know who’s the actual original, and thus they split. Each hold different memories of their time being alive. Due to being completely magical beings, their situation is influenced a lot by magic, such as having a headspace between the three(including Bee) that is more than just a mental space and more akin to a sort of pocket dimension.

Current Inventory

knife he was stabbed with at one point

trident made of pure dark magic

blue raspberry crab(x32)

basket of breads and stuff. maybe some soup

assorted knitting yarn

knitting needles

green potion(a few of them)

ring enhanced with protective magic that he completely forgot about and doesn’t use anymore

greens(@/green-is-the-leader) four sword

a very empty bright majora mask. dw, they share a body permanently now!(sorry bee is dead lmao)

travellers guitar and handbook guide(gifted by @/a-random-traveler)

hundreds of assorted stickers(stars, animals, bees, so on)

magic suppression potion(x1)

grand piano(approx x1)

trumpet(x1)

trombone(x1)

violin(x1)

OOC Intro

hey yall its me the fuckass behind the insanity. i am. so sorry this blog exists. uhmmmmmmmm its 1am that’s basically all i have to say anyway yeah ribbon definitely needs someone to apologize for the Everything on his behalf so hi that’ll be me. i can’t wait to kill him

Tag Guide

#evil chain rp/#evil chain/#lu rp/#evil linked universe- my default tags i use for every post related to the rp. i try to not deviate from these four unless im doing tag rambling or tagging the arc. is this a four swords reference? now it is

#out of character post/#ooc post/#ooc/#mod speaks- tags i’ll use for a completely out of character post. this doesn’t happen often, as i like my immersion(ofc i do) but occasionally it might.

#ooc: [text]- my tag for talking. if it’s out of character, then it’ll be marked as such with this. earlier posts do have ribbon talking in the tags, but that hasn’t happened very recently, so it’s not likely you’ll find that happening anywhere unless you dig real far down.

#tw ribbon- this is the place where all fucked up things go to be blocked. posts tagged with this are guaranteed to have at least, most likely more, one of the following: extreme gore, cannibalism, extreme (emotional)manipulation, gaslighting, weird unhealthy intimacy(likely forced upon someone), unhealthy relationships in general, non-consensual acts, and probably more im forgetting. if you want a post tagged with this tag, let me know through asks or dms, whichever is available. feel free, even encouraged, to block this blog because of the topics featured. safety above entertainment.

#Fos’olothres- first tagged arc. features ribbon and bee(@/bright-majora-mask) replaced by their future self, from trillions of years in the future. Fos’olothres(their collective name) is a God, taking up a draconic sort of appearance.

#dungeon part II- when Fos’olothres went back to faer own time, it was right in the middle of a dungeon, leaving both ribbon and bee stranded there. continuation of the first dungeon ribbon went through alone, which is not tagged. bee and ribbon end up splitting after this, as they were both getting very angry at eachother for various reasons.

#the well arc- after bee forces ribbon away from his cuff accidentally, he’s left to be alone in the well he first lived in at the very beginning of the blog. he loses himself completely during this, losing both emotions and free will.

#ribbons journal entries- going hand in hand with the well arc, ribbon documents slowly going insane in his native language. this should be translated by @/evil-tatl, everyone say thank you NOW and APPRECIATE THEM!!! or i’ll EXPLODE

#blinding light arc- now with zero free will and no way to feel things, ribbon travels about while trying to follow his primary directive. that being, cause as much chaos and evil as he can. eventually he meets kheel, who starts off nice but quickly descends into anger and hate, taking that out on him. this arc ends when he and bee are reunited.

#a metaphor of chains- during this arc, ribbon continues to be used by kheel as an outlet for anger, becoming seen as nothing more as a tool. he’s tortured a lot, so warning for torture, gore, and other like topics for posts tagged with this arc. eventually, his entire identity is erased, but instead of it having the desired effect of dehumanization, it split him into two. Both Ribbon and Zomi are separate people by the end of this arc, which ends with him torturing kheel back and technically escaping from her.

#sunrise over asphodels- Something of a broken recovery arc. Zomi ends up getting better, Ribbon ends up getting worse or something along those lines. Legend(@/luherooflegend) finds them in a white room, saving them and they’re left in a saltwater pond until they get their crutches back. Bee and Ribbon discover that they love torturing eachother for funsies, but they get a divorce midway through, leaving Ribbon to take Bee in its sleep to satisfy his urges. At the end of this arc Ribbon goes on a roadtrip where he vivisects several people and cuts open a kids arm. So, naturally, general gore and non-con warning for posts tagged with this arc. Ribbon continues to grow more unstable, and by the end, Bee has died.

#embroidered losses- current arc, summary will be added at its end.

please note that mod only likes writing about fucked up things and doesn’t condone them…. like don’t eat people folks

[green-is-the-leader]

[It comes across a town on its frantic journey to find Ribbon. It's not there yet, it can tell. But this town seems like the perfect spot to find a weapon. Something tells Green it'll need it.]

[It recognizes the familiar shape of a forge at the edge of town. It's sure there will be plenty of weapons there.]

[It makes a beeline for the forge. A small shop is set up next to it, selling the weapons produced there. It doesn't even look for any shopkeeper. There's a sword on the wall that it can easily reach. The weight will be off, but whatever. It should be fine. As long as it has a weapon.]

[It grabs the blade of the sword, paying no mind to the sound of its metal palm scraping against the sword. It thinks it hears the shopkeeper say something, but it ignores them. Instead, it pulls the sword off the wall and takes off running. Stealing is easy when it's able to run fast.]

[Its run turns into following the pull of the light once again. And it's led deeper and deeper into the forest. Eventually, it finds itself coming into a clearing. In the clearing is a small, run down house.]

[Whoever lived here once doesn't live here now. But the pull of its light is stronger here. Something tells it this is the place.]

[It doesn't know what's been going on, but it will get Ribbon out.]

[No matter what.]

@shadow-but-bright

[shadow-but-bright]

[The light within your flesh seems calmer than it has been in a while, but theres also a certain empty quality to it that’s rather disturbing to feel when it’s not coming from yourself. You can’t even tell who it is right now, not without the churning and burning you feel when you’re with Ribbon, or the steady calmness when it’s Zomi instead. It’s all just… Empty.]

[Even still, it tries to beckon you closer. Like it needs you to save it all.]

[The door of the run down shack seems to be off of its hinges just enough for it not to be able to close, and so it hangs slightly ajar. You think you might be able to hear voices inside, if you listen close enough.]

[green-is-the-leader]

[It approaches slowly, silently. At the mouth of the door it stops to listen. It wants info. It needs to know what's happening to its love. Once it figures that out, it can decide what these people deserve.]

[It also attempts to look into the home. It would be nice to gauge how outnumbered it may be. Not like that matters. It will still jump in and save Ribbon, even if there were hundreds of people.]

[shadow-but-bright]

[Theres a small group of people sitting in what looks to be the main room, about three of them. It definitely also smells like some sort of drug is floating around in the air, along with the walls smelling heavily of cigarette smoke.]

[They’re all chatting about something, and from what you can gather, it’s about weed and sex. Nothing all that specific as far as you can tell, though.]

[green-is-the-leader]

[Three people? Probably drugged out of their minds, too. It can take them. It doesn't care if they did anything to Ribbon or not. Ribbon's here, and they deserve to pay for anything that might have happened to him.]

[It bursts into the house, immediately swinging its sword at the neck of one of the people there.]

[shadow-but-bright]

[None of them react in time, and the most that happens is one of them falling out of a rotting wooden chair and all three yelling in surprise.]

[You manage to slice into the strangers flesh with ease, especially since they had turned towards you out of surprise. They grasp at their bleeding throat almost desperately, red pouring from their mouth with a gross gargling sound. They won’t last that much longer, that’s obvious enough.]

[green-is-the-leader]

[It doesn't need to focus on that person anymore. They're as good as dead. It whips around to the one that fell out of the chair, thrusting its sword forward, and hopefully into their heart.]

[It doesn't care about being stealthy. It's going to kill everyone here, anyways. The empty light inside of it is telling enough. These people did something to Ribbon, and they'll pay for it.]

[shadow-but-bright]

[Theres a split second where your victim tries to scramble away, but is far too clumsy and far too slow to escape. They die within a few seconds.]

[The final one there yells out a name, along with some swear words before gunning it for the door clumsily, clearly panicked.]

[green-is-the-leader]

[It stands there for a moment, watching. That eery smile plastered on its face says enough. It doesn't care if you try to get help, you touched Ribbon in some way, and you don't deserve to live after that.]

[It follows behind this new victim, but much slower. It doesn't care if someone else gets warned and comes out to fight, too. It'll just kill everyone in its way.]

[shadow-but-bright]

[Right as the man gets to the door and tries to pry it open, though it drags against the wooden floor and wont quite open enough for him to get through. He continues to struggle for a few seconds before giving up, turning, and raising his fists in preparation to fight.]

[green-is-the-leader]

[By that point, it's already caught up with him. It actually just stands and watches him struggle, completely unimpressed by the effort. This man must know that he's going to die anyways.]

[A slash of its sword drives the weapon into the man's side. He should've thought about the fact that raising his fists left his sides vulnerable. Man, these people are very incompetent fighters. And having no weapons to fight back with? It wonders why they didn't anticipate someone coming to save Ribbon.]

[Not like it matters. They're all dying today anyways.]

[shadow-but-bright]

[He obviously didn’t see that coming, from the way that the stranger screams and barely even tries to block the hit. His eyes are red, probably from the drugs, and it takes a second for the man to come to a decision.]

[After that, though, he starts to ignore the pain and lunges straight towards you in preparation to tackle you to the ground. A simple, last ditch effort, really.]

[green-is-the-leader]

[It didn't expect this man to fight back. It had expected him to cower and run. He successfully tackles it to the ground with the horrible crunch of porcelain. It winces. Ribbon won't be happy about that.]

[Despite clearly being hurt by this, it doesn't falter, and its hands immediately wrap around this man's throat. If the sword doesn't kill, then its bare hands will.]

[shadow-but-bright]

[Immediately, his own hands go up to try and pry your fingers off of him. The strangers red eyes widen in complete panic, and he tries to pull away from you.]

[Though, the loss of blood from the injury in his side seems to be affecting how effective the struggling is. This person doesn’t seem that strong at all.]

[green-is-the-leader]

[Using the weight of its body, it attempts to swing around and pin this man to the ground instead. It needs more momentum to choke him harder. It needs him to suffocate right now. The longer this takes, the more Ribbon might be suffering.]

[It can't have that.]

[shadow-but-bright]

[With a bit of effort, you succeed, and push him up from on top of you until he’s the one on his back. For a second, the struggling gets stronger out of panic, but you can tell it won’t last for long. He’s getting weaker.]

[green-is-the-leader]

[It doesn't lighten its grip. Of course it doesn't! This man doesn't deserve any sort of mercy. Green doesn't care if this person is involved in anything or not. He still deserves to die. Anyone it finds in this house will be dying today.]

[Its grip is as tight as it can possibly make it.]

[shadow-but-bright]

[Slowly, the man ceases to move, and goes limp in your grasp. Its quiet long enough that you can catch the slightest creak of a door, and then the sound of something locking.]

[At least you can tell what direction it came from.]

[green-is-the-leader]

[It pulls away slowly, grabs its discarded sword, and stabs the man in the heart, just in case. It then turns its attention to the newly locked door. It's not stupid.]

[It wonders if...]

[It approaches the door, then stabs its sword through the wood. It's pleasantly surprised at how smoothly its sword sinks into the wood. Well, this house is rather dilapidated. The wood must be rotting.]

[shadow-but-bright]

[You don’t hear anything from inside the room, but it can’t be anywhere else. Not after hearing that.]

[At the very least, the door is incredibly easy to break down.]

[green-is-the-leader]

[Well, it can just kick this door down, or break the doornob. This door is so old that anything it does will probably break it completely.]

[It pulls its sword out of the door and begins to kick the door as hard as it can. Rip it off the hinges.]

[shadow-but-bright]

[After only a couple kicks, the door breaks down into a pile of wood on the floor, and the first thing you see is a person half naked and another wearing a hoodie and sweatpants with the hood up trying to work their way out of a broken window without getting cut.]

[They both turn around to face you, and once seeing the blood covering you nearly head to toe, they both just try to scramble out faster.]

[green-is-the-leader]

[Oh, no. It's not letting these people get away. Especially not when at least one of them is clearly a perpetrator. And the other is guilty by association. They're not getting out of this. It ignores the familiarity of the half naked guy. At least for the moment. Its attention is focused on the hooded person.]

[It rushes forward, aiming its sword towards the hooded person's heart. It's not going to get creative with killing right now. It's just focused on making sure these people die.]

[shadow-but-bright]

[You manage to stab right where you wanted to, and after only a few seconds, the guy in the hoodie stops moving with his face buried in spikes of glass. You hear the guy beside you yell a swear, and stumble back from you.]

[green-is-the-leader]

[One left.]

[It rips its sword out of the man's back, and turns to face this final person.]

[It recognizes this guy. It vividly remembers being beaten to a pulp. Being screamed at. Being violently violated. A knife shoved up there. Blood all over the place. Its own blood.]

[It falters.]

[shadow-but-bright]

[That falter is enough for the familiar stranger to take the chance and bolt for the broken down door, as fast as he can. The rotting and disjointed wood trips him up a few times, but he is surprisingly competent at running away.]

[green-is-the-leader]

[Silently, it curses itself for faltering. This guy does not deserve mercy, especially after what he probably did to Ribbon. Based on how it was treated when with this man, it can only assume the worst.]

[But it can run, too. It ignores the way its body is feeling way too warm. It ignores the fact that it should sit down and cool off. It can't do that right now.]

[It gives chase, only tripping over the rotted wood once.]

[shadow-but-bright]

[You manage to catch up rather quickly, due to the mans panicked and clumsy demeanor. The closer you get, the more you can hear him swearing under his breath.]

[green-is-the-leader]

[It gets closer and closer, before it dives towards this man in an attempt to tackle him to the ground. It throws its full body weight on him.]

[Rage is coursing through its entire being.]

[shadow-but-bright]

[He yells out of surprise once you reach him, and isn’t able to avoid your tackle whatsoever. He goes down face first into the rotting wood.]

[The stranger starts struggling to get away.]

[green-is-the-leader]

[It presses against the man with all its might to keep him on the ground. It vaguely remembers having a dagger on its hip. Maybe it still has it? With such a close distance, the sword would be inconvenient.]

[It reaches for its hip, and instead finds a different dagger, that it picked up earlier at the forgery.]

[Perfect.]

[It stabs the man's shoulder, first.]

[shadow-but-bright]

[He barely manages to cut off a scream when your dagger sinks into his flesh, but even then, he still continues to struggle to push himself up. This man certainly isn’t going down without a fight, it seems. But it also doesn’t seem like he can push you off of him like this.]

[green-is-the-leader]

[Good. It rips its dagger out of the man's shoulder, and stabs it in a random spot. It doesn't care where it stabs, it just wants this man to feel pain. To feel torture in his last moments.]

[Nothing it does will atone for the actions this man has done to it and Ribbon. He surely tortured Ribbon, too. He won't get away from this.]

[It rips its dagger out again, and brings it back down. Out, in, out, in, twist, out, in.]

[shadow-but-bright]

[As you stab over and over again, slowly, the stranger stops struggling. Blood splatters from the dozen stab wounds and onto you, along with onto the rotting wooden floors. He’s still alive, obviously, but he’s getting there.]

[green-is-the-leader]

[This isn't about how much the man is suffering anymore. All it sees is blood. All it feels is rage. In, out, in, out, same spot, different spot, over and over and over again.]

[It feels good. It feels good to be the perfect doll and crush this man's life for its master. For its love. It feels good to save Ribbon. This is what saving looks like.]

[It feels good to give this man everything he deserves.]

[shadow-but-bright]

[Eventually, the man stops moving.]

[Eventually, he stops breathing, too.]

[There is nothing left beneath you.]

[green-is-the-leader]

[Eventually, it pulls away. The dagger pulls out of the body and clatters to the ground. It steps away. The rage isn't gone. It should suppress the rage, to be the perfect doll.]

[It's seeing shadows. They look like people. There must still be people here. But it hears nothing.]

[It will focus on killing them later. It's tired. It must save Ribbon now, instead.]

[It decides to enter a room it doesn't remember entering before.]

[shadow-but-bright]

[The door creaks uncomfortably as you open it. At least it doesn’t look as ready to simply fall off its hinges as most of the other doors you’ve seen in this house, even though that isn’t saying much.]

[This room is dark. It doesn’t seem to have a single window, or if it did at one point, that window was boarded up extremely well.]

[green-is-the-leader]

[It starts to slowly explore the room. Its own light illuminates it slightly. All it's looking for is where Ribbon might be.]

[shadow-but-bright]

[The feeling of light is stronger in this room. From what you can tell, it’s spacious, too. If who you’re looking for is in here, there isn’t really any sign besides the feeling of stronger light.]

[shadow-but-bright]

*generally, people feel them before seeing them. there’s a cool chill in the air, and the faint presence of something watching. that presence normally feels comforting, and while it isn’t malicious right now, something about it feels wrong.*

*something smells like vanilla. there’s a hint of lemon in there too.*

*finally, they show themselves. they look different from before (is that blood on their claws…?) but it’s still recognizably them. they’re holding a plate of evil cookies.*

…ribbon? bee? um, mystery person from before?

*something about him (it?) doesn’t feel quite right. sure, they weren’t expecting the cheerful ribbon that loved to knit, but still. this feels much too close to faer for them.*

…do you still remember me…?

@evil-off-brand-halloween-ghost

[…He looks smaller than usual, and he’s wearing something different than you remember him wearing, too; his regular clothes are replaced with what looks like a simple nightgown. Though the most striking part of his current appearance is what he’s holding, and his eyes, which look… Distant, and devoid of life to the point they look like a bright cyan void with nothing behind them.]

[In his arms, he holds a mask. A familiar mask that once was full of life, but now, it’s as empty as his eyes and has a large crack through it. One of the masks eyes is completely broken off.]

[There would be another person here, if he hadn’t sent him off so he could just… Be, for a while. Pretend to not exist. And he’s been doing so well at pretending to not exist, that he doesn’t even respond to you, or looks like he recognizes that you’re there at all.]

[evil-off-brand-halloween-ghost]

*they hesitate for only a second, before floating closer. whoever this is, they’re still ghosty’s friend.*

*they won’t let another friend suffer in silence.*

*carefully, they set down the plate of evil cookies next to him. it smells of lemon and vanilla, along with the signature smell of salt.*

*they look carefully at the mask. empty.*

*they know how that feels, to be clinging to a hollow memory of someone.*

*while they don’t touch him, they do float right in front of him and give a small wave, trying to gently get his attention.*

hello…? it’s okay, you don’t have to respond, just… look at me? please?

i promise i mean no harm. i wouldn’t hurt a fly, really, you don’t have to be worried! *the lie tastes bitter on the tip of their tongue.*

[shadow-but-bright]

[Still, there isn’t anything from him. No movement, not even any breathing whatsoever. Though, when you talk, it’s almost like his eyes gain a slight more amount of life to them for a second. Otherwise, though, stillness.]

[He knows you’re there—though, he doesn’t even know if he’s, well, him right now, but using those pronouns seems as fitting as he can get currently—but it’s like his body won’t respond to him. He doesn’t even really feel like forcing himself, but having another presence here is… Nice. Especially besides Green. It was just so easy to give into the call of nothingness, and let himself fall away, especially after…. After.. He stops thinking again. Later.]

[He forgets you’re there, after a few seconds, and focuses as much as he can on the presences of the broken mask in his arms.]

[evil-off-brand-halloween-ghost]

*talking seems to be doing… something. they should probably keep doing that then.*

*that’s alright. they can ramble! they’re evil at that.*

y’know it’s really hard to get alcohol as a ghost. no ghost has it, since we can’t really eat or drink, and the living tend to panic if you try to buy any. and i don’t know the first thing about making it! i had to steal the vanilla extract from the store! i still paid, though.

*they may have had to… borrow some rupees from a pompous duke (look, they don’t need to buy things often! they don’t have a lot of rupees!) but that’s aside the point.*

*the man deserved it, anyways.*

oh, and one of the cats in my forest had kittens! i helped as much as i could, and she’s a proud mother of four now. the little ones are so cute, they’re about two weeks old now!

but evil hylia, this one little guy— spawn of demise, i swear. everyone loves him, but he’s a menace.

*just like them. they’re so proud of their grandson.*

[shadow-but-bright]

[He listens, somewhat. It’s hard to focus on your voice when his mind refuses to, at first. But through times where he’s completely not listening, he finds himself managing to tune in occasionally. It’s… Nice, he thinks. He— no, that doesn’t sound right anymore, maybe… It? Yeah, something like that. It thinks it enjoys hearing nonsense rambles about nothing in particular. All of the sudden, it finds the willpower to hug Bees’ mask tighter. A small movement, but something.]

[…It thinks you said something about alcohol at one point. Now it just wants alcohol, and that becomes the main focus of its mind through the nothingness. It hasn’t had a drink in, like, a day! It thinks it needs a drink. Right now. But, still, it… Can’t move. But it’s getting there. It hopes you’ll stay, it’s easier to pull itself out of whatever this is while someone else is talking to it. While it has something else to focus on than… Everything else.]

[evil-off-brand-halloween-ghost]

*hm… something just changed. this presence feels a little bit different. more… aware, almost.*

if you’d like, we can go meet them one day. i think the cats would love you! your light feels warm, and all of the little rascals are heat leeches. if you’re lucky, the other animals might come out too! they’re more shy than the cats, though.

*they smile. it seems stressed, which makes sense, considering the… circumstances. some time with animals would probably do it some evil. snuggling with the forest creatures always helps them, at least!*

y’know, one time there was a horse in my forest. poor thing got spooked and ran into the woods, i guess. i had to guide it out through the fog. i mean, not that i would’ve been against it staying, but a dense forest isn’t really an evil place for a horse. not a lot of room to run around.

anyways, it found it’s rider and they both left safely.

*they never really got to go horseback riding much when they were alive. they travelled by foot pretty much all the time, to see the sights. they kind of regret not trying it when they still could.*

[shadow-but-bright]

[…It doesn’t know why you’re sticking around. Why would you? Ribbon is just pure evil, and not the fun and playful kind of evil that it’s more familiar with. Shouldn’t you be… Scared? Whatever. Putting yourself in danger by being around it is your decision, it supposes. It’s not like Ribbon will be back for a while anyway, he’s simply just not suited for dealing with— That. Everything. Stars, everything.]

[No, no, that’s its burden to bear the clearest memories of! And not the evil horrible bastard that deserves to be put in his place! That’s great!!]

[…]

[It must have tuned out what you were saying at some point, in favor for being suddenly hit with the giant swinging ball of a realisation that all of that was real. Stars, the hands on its body, the hands in its body, there were so many fingers trailing across its skin. It can still feel them. Every single crevice of its body was touched. It feels disgusting. It is disgusting. It wants to go back to the sweet bliss that was that feeling of nothingness, of time slipping by without a care, of not thinking. But it seems to be too late for that now.]

[Everything about itself is still distant, disconnected, even the way it starts to shake and grip the mask pressed against its chest until the edges of it dig into its skin and it starts to hurt. But it couldn’t care less about that, right now. Bright tears make its vision blurry. Something bad has happened.]

[Something bad has happened.]

[evil-off-brand-halloween-ghost]

and it—

…oh.

*it’s crying.*

*they don’t think they’ve ever seen ribbon cry. is this ribbon? it doesn’t really feel like him…*

*…but regardless, it’s a friend who’s clearly been through something terrible. they think that everyone’s gone through something awful, at this point. nobody’s okay.*

*they use their magic to gently pull the mask away; not enough to take it from it, just enough that the wood isn’t painfully pressed into it anymore.*

hey… can you hear me? *their voice becomes much softer,* i don’t know what happened, but i’m here for you. you’re safe here, i promise. whatever hurt you can’t touch you here.

*…and if that what is actually a who, they may have to pay someone a visit.*

[shadow-but-bright]

[It whines quietly when you try to move the only thing it has left of Bee away from it, but it lets you nonetheless. It almost misses the pain of the wood digging into its dry scales, but at least you don’t take it away. It would have nothing if you took this hollow mask from it. It doesn’t think it could handle that.]

[It— It needs something, and it needs it now. It forces its body to cooperate, to uncurl from its position, and once it has a free hand, it summons a bottle of alcohol from its storage. A horrible coping mechanism, but it would rather be drunk and deal with this than not be drunk and deal with this. Once it gets the top open, it downs as much of the bottle as it can in one breath. And, well, it doesn’t need to breathe, so in only a few seconds the entire thing is emptied.]

[…This stuff is strong, but it feels better already. It leans its head back onto the tree it’s sitting up against, letting its magic absorb the burn of the alcohol and provide it with a nice buzz. Its mind is a bit quieter now. It still sobs occasionally, still shakes, and it’s breathing stutters as it tries to calm itself, but it’s all better than nothing. It wipes away its tears with its scarred palm. It wants to forget. It doesn’t think it can.]

[It doesn’t acknowledge that you’ve said anything, too preoccupied with attempting to control itself, still holding the mask close.]

[evil-off-brand-halloween-ghost]

oh for the love of—

*they stop. even though they remember the consequences of the ‘Ribbon and Bee get fucking smashed in the woods’ incident, this person probably needs this right now… and if they try to take the bottle away, they’ll only make it worse right now. Maybe after it’s calmer they can talk about better coping mechanisms.*

…never mind

*once they can get it to be responsive, maybe they can offer the evil cookies and get some food in it’s system. they remember how much drinking on an empty stomach sucks from when they were alive; if they can save it some of the hangover, it’s a win in their book.*

*once it seems at least a little bit calmer, they get closer.* if you can hear me, could you nod? please?

[shadow-but-bright]

[Tears still run down its face, and you can hear it try to stifle sobs still. It doesn’t manage to look at you fully. For some reason, the tree leaves above it look… Weird, and not in the drunk way. Kind of just… In a… Weird way. Weird. It’s a but grounding, at least, watching whatever’s going on and trying to figure out what the fuck is happening. After a few seconds it remembers that you asked it something, though it wasn’t really paying attention to what you said. At all.]

Huh? […Its voice is much deeper than you’ve ever heard before. Not to mention rough, but that’s probably just from crying. It lets the empty bottle fall to the grass in favor of once again wiping tears from its face.] Didn’.. Uhm, hear you…

[It wants more alcohol. Maybe it should wait for the bottle it just downed to kick in more, though. It missed being drunk, being relatively sober during that made everything so much worse. The warmth the alcohol brings along is almost indistinguishable from its own, but it still finds comfort in the feeling.]

[evil-off-brand-halloween-ghost]

*wait— it can speak?*

*they feel pride well up in their core, for this practical stranger. still, if this is who they think it is, then it’s managed to overcome that struggle.*

*maybe, just maybe, things can get better again. maybe the damage can heal after all. they certainly hope so.*

oh, um, that’s fine. *they try their best to speak a bit more slowly than they normally do.* i was just asking if you could hear me, but you’ve already answered that! *they laugh awkwardly.*

*…now that it’s more responsive, maybe they can try to comfort it. a bottle can only do so much for so long. a friend —a shoulder to lean on— is a better and more permanent solution.*

…are you feeling alright? *a question with an obvious answer, but maybe one that’ll prompt it to confide in them a bit, if possible.*

[shadow-but-bright]

[…Is it— Is it feeling alright? Is it feeling alright. You just actually asked it that. After it stares at you like you’re stupid for a few seconds, it decides to actually respond.] What a loaded question— The fuck does it look like? [It doesn’t particularly sound aggressive, even though its wording says otherwise.]

[It summons another bottle of alcohol, this time unlabeled and clear. It’s found the unlabeled ones are the strongest. For only a second, it debates opening this one, but it decides it doesn’t care and uncorks its second bottle and takes a long drink from it.]

…What d’ya want?

[evil-off-brand-halloween-ghost]

*…yeah, okay, fair enough. they can’t even be mad about that response.*

…well, yes. let me rephrase that: do you need or want help?

*they grimace at the bottle (they can’t even smell anymore, but they can still clearly imagine the strong stench of alcohol) but don’t say or do anything to stop it from drinking.*

i’d like to help you out, if you’ll let me. …you look like you could use a friend.

*they can’t stand by and watch another friend fade away.*

[shadow-but-bright]

What’s the point? [In relishes the warm burn as it takes another drink. Its favorite part of drinking like this is the heat of it, especially since the taste is just rancid.] In, uh, helping me, I mean. It’s a waste of your time. [Despite the amount of alcohol it’s already had, it seems to be functioning surprisingly well.]

I don’ need help. I’m— He’s— Ribbon is, dangerous. ‘Kay? ‘S better if you leave. [Another long drink. It thinks it feels its skin crawling uncomfortably. Trying to ignore that feeling, it opts for trying to readjust its legs into a more comfortable position, though lately, it’s realised it can’t really… Move its legs just by trying anymore. So instead, it busies its hands with doing it manually, after setting the mask and its bottle to the side temporarily.]

[It still hurts.]

[evil-off-brand-halloween-ghost]

does there have to be a point? you’re hurting. i’d like to ease that pain.

*…what does it mean? last they checked, ribbon wasn’t dangerous (to most people). but… bee is gone. that definitely could’ve changed him. death has certainly changed them.*

*still, ribbon is their friend. they’ll trust him, for now, and hope he hasn’t turned out like kheel.*

…i’ve known ribbon for a long, long time. we’ve been through a lot together. i’ll be okay.

*don’t think of fos’olothres.*

you don’t have to suffer alone.

[shadow-but-bright]

[Once it’s done straightening out its legs, it starts picking at the dry scales that coat them, seeing which ones will come off, and which ones would stay. It finds itself doing this with its wings a lot, too, but seeing at it hasn’t bothered to shift away from Ribbons appearance at all… It places any scales that do come off to the side of its legs so that they’re out of the way.]

That asshole doesn’t care about how long you’ve known him. [Now that does sound aggressive, even if not towards you.] He’ll just— All he does is— He finds a way! All the time! To just hurt! It doesn’t matter. I don’t plan on stayin’ around long anyway, no point in trying. To get to know me, I mean. You’re better off leaving. ‘Fore Green comes back… You know, Ribbon ‘s really good at manipulating. He turned Green into this perfect little slave for himself. He likes messing with people, an’ he’ll use— He’ll do it to you, too. [It stabs one of its loose scales into the dirt.] He hurts, so he hurts everything around him back. You should leave. Before— He— Please leave.

[Its speech seems rather… Jumbled. And it doesn’t actually look at you once, focusing on plucking itself of its scales instead. The longer it keeps at it, the more frantic—or at least messy—it gets.]

[green-is-the-leader]

[It comes across a town on its frantic journey to find Ribbon. It's not there yet, it can tell. But this town seems like the perfect spot to find a weapon. Something tells Green it'll need it.]

[It recognizes the familiar shape of a forge at the edge of town. It's sure there will be plenty of weapons there.]

[It makes a beeline for the forge. A small shop is set up next to it, selling the weapons produced there. It doesn't even look for any shopkeeper. There's a sword on the wall that it can easily reach. The weight will be off, but whatever. It should be fine. As long as it has a weapon.]

[It grabs the blade of the sword, paying no mind to the sound of its metal palm scraping against the sword. It thinks it hears the shopkeeper say something, but it ignores them. Instead, it pulls the sword off the wall and takes off running. Stealing is easy when it's able to run fast.]

[Its run turns into following the pull of the light once again. And it's led deeper and deeper into the forest. Eventually, it finds itself coming into a clearing. In the clearing is a small, run down house.]

[Whoever lived here once doesn't live here now. But the pull of its light is stronger here. Something tells it this is the place.]

[It doesn't know what's been going on, but it will get Ribbon out.]

[No matter what.]

@shadow-but-bright

[shadow-but-bright]

[The light within your flesh seems calmer than it has been in a while, but theres also a certain empty quality to it that’s rather disturbing to feel when it’s not coming from yourself. You can’t even tell who it is right now, not without the churning and burning you feel when you’re with Ribbon, or the steady calmness when it’s Zomi instead. It’s all just… Empty.]

[Even still, it tries to beckon you closer. Like it needs you to save it all.]

[The door of the run down shack seems to be off of its hinges just enough for it not to be able to close, and so it hangs slightly ajar. You think you might be able to hear voices inside, if you listen close enough.]

[green-is-the-leader]

[It approaches slowly, silently. At the mouth of the door it stops to listen. It wants info. It needs to know what's happening to its love. Once it figures that out, it can decide what these people deserve.]

[It also attempts to look into the home. It would be nice to gauge how outnumbered it may be. Not like that matters. It will still jump in and save Ribbon, even if there were hundreds of people.]

[shadow-but-bright]

[Theres a small group of people sitting in what looks to be the main room, about three of them. It definitely also smells like some sort of drug is floating around in the air, along with the walls smelling heavily of cigarette smoke.]

[They’re all chatting about something, and from what you can gather, it’s about weed and sex. Nothing all that specific as far as you can tell, though.]

[green-is-the-leader]

[Three people? Probably drugged out of their minds, too. It can take them. It doesn't care if they did anything to Ribbon or not. Ribbon's here, and they deserve to pay for anything that might have happened to him.]

[It bursts into the house, immediately swinging its sword at the neck of one of the people there.]

[shadow-but-bright]

[None of them react in time, and the most that happens is one of them falling out of a rotting wooden chair and all three yelling in surprise.]

[You manage to slice into the strangers flesh with ease, especially since they had turned towards you out of surprise. They grasp at their bleeding throat almost desperately, red pouring from their mouth with a gross gargling sound. They won’t last that much longer, that’s obvious enough.]

[green-is-the-leader]

[It doesn't need to focus on that person anymore. They're as good as dead. It whips around to the one that fell out of the chair, thrusting its sword forward, and hopefully into their heart.]

[It doesn't care about being stealthy. It's going to kill everyone here, anyways. The empty light inside of it is telling enough. These people did something to Ribbon, and they'll pay for it.]

[shadow-but-bright]

[Theres a split second where your victim tries to scramble away, but is far too clumsy and far too slow to escape. They die within a few seconds.]

[The final one there yells out a name, along with some swear words before gunning it for the door clumsily, clearly panicked.]

[green-is-the-leader]

[It stands there for a moment, watching. That eery smile plastered on its face says enough. It doesn't care if you try to get help, you touched Ribbon in some way, and you don't deserve to live after that.]

[It follows behind this new victim, but much slower. It doesn't care if someone else gets warned and comes out to fight, too. It'll just kill everyone in its way.]

[shadow-but-bright]

[Right as the man gets to the door and tries to pry it open, though it drags against the wooden floor and wont quite open enough for him to get through. He continues to struggle for a few seconds before giving up, turning, and raising his fists in preparation to fight.]

[green-is-the-leader]

[By that point, it's already caught up with him. It actually just stands and watches him struggle, completely unimpressed by the effort. This man must know that he's going to die anyways.]

[A slash of its sword drives the weapon into the man's side. He should've thought about the fact that raising his fists left his sides vulnerable. Man, these people are very incompetent fighters. And having no weapons to fight back with? It wonders why they didn't anticipate someone coming to save Ribbon.]

[Not like it matters. They're all dying today anyways.]

[shadow-but-bright]

[He obviously didn’t see that coming, from the way that the stranger screams and barely even tries to block the hit. His eyes are red, probably from the drugs, and it takes a second for the man to come to a decision.]

[After that, though, he starts to ignore the pain and lunges straight towards you in preparation to tackle you to the ground. A simple, last ditch effort, really.]

[green-is-the-leader]

[It didn't expect this man to fight back. It had expected him to cower and run. He successfully tackles it to the ground with the horrible crunch of porcelain. It winces. Ribbon won't be happy about that.]

[Despite clearly being hurt by this, it doesn't falter, and its hands immediately wrap around this man's throat. If the sword doesn't kill, then its bare hands will.]

[shadow-but-bright]

[Immediately, his own hands go up to try and pry your fingers off of him. The strangers red eyes widen in complete panic, and he tries to pull away from you.]

[Though, the loss of blood from the injury in his side seems to be affecting how effective the struggling is. This person doesn’t seem that strong at all.]

[green-is-the-leader]

[Using the weight of its body, it attempts to swing around and pin this man to the ground instead. It needs more momentum to choke him harder. It needs him to suffocate right now. The longer this takes, the more Ribbon might be suffering.]

[It can't have that.]

[shadow-but-bright]

[With a bit of effort, you succeed, and push him up from on top of you until he’s the one on his back. For a second, the struggling gets stronger out of panic, but you can tell it won’t last for long. He’s getting weaker.]

[green-is-the-leader]

[It doesn't lighten its grip. Of course it doesn't! This man doesn't deserve any sort of mercy. Green doesn't care if this person is involved in anything or not. He still deserves to die. Anyone it finds in this house will be dying today.]

[Its grip is as tight as it can possibly make it.]

[shadow-but-bright]

[Slowly, the man ceases to move, and goes limp in your grasp. Its quiet long enough that you can catch the slightest creak of a door, and then the sound of something locking.]

[At least you can tell what direction it came from.]

[green-is-the-leader]

[It pulls away slowly, grabs its discarded sword, and stabs the man in the heart, just in case. It then turns its attention to the newly locked door. It's not stupid.]

[It wonders if...]

[It approaches the door, then stabs its sword through the wood. It's pleasantly surprised at how smoothly its sword sinks into the wood. Well, this house is rather dilapidated. The wood must be rotting.]

[shadow-but-bright]

[You don’t hear anything from inside the room, but it can’t be anywhere else. Not after hearing that.]

[At the very least, the door is incredibly easy to break down.]

[green-is-the-leader]

[Well, it can just kick this door down, or break the doornob. This door is so old that anything it does will probably break it completely.]

[It pulls its sword out of the door and begins to kick the door as hard as it can. Rip it off the hinges.]

[shadow-but-bright]

[After only a couple kicks, the door breaks down into a pile of wood on the floor, and the first thing you see is a person half naked and another wearing a hoodie and sweatpants with the hood up trying to work their way out of a broken window without getting cut.]

[They both turn around to face you, and once seeing the blood covering you nearly head to toe, they both just try to scramble out faster.]

[green-is-the-leader]

[Oh, no. It's not letting these people get away. Especially not when at least one of them is clearly a perpetrator. And the other is guilty by association. They're not getting out of this. It ignores the familiarity of the half naked guy. At least for the moment. Its attention is focused on the hooded person.]

[It rushes forward, aiming its sword towards the hooded person's heart. It's not going to get creative with killing right now. It's just focused on making sure these people die.]

[shadow-but-bright]

[You manage to stab right where you wanted to, and after only a few seconds, the guy in the hoodie stops moving with his face buried in spikes of glass. You hear the guy beside you yell a swear, and stumble back from you.]

[green-is-the-leader]

[One left.]

[It rips its sword out of the man's back, and turns to face this final person.]

[It recognizes this guy. It vividly remembers being beaten to a pulp. Being screamed at. Being violently violated. A knife shoved up there. Blood all over the place. Its own blood.]

[It falters.]

[shadow-but-bright]

[That falter is enough for the familiar stranger to take the chance and bolt for the broken down door, as fast as he can. The rotting and disjointed wood trips him up a few times, but he is surprisingly competent at running away.]

[green-is-the-leader]

[Silently, it curses itself for faltering. This guy does not deserve mercy, especially after what he probably did to Ribbon. Based on how it was treated when with this man, it can only assume the worst.]

[But it can run, too. It ignores the way its body is feeling way too warm. It ignores the fact that it should sit down and cool off. It can't do that right now.]

[It gives chase, only tripping over the rotted wood once.]

[shadow-but-bright]

[You manage to catch up rather quickly, due to the mans panicked and clumsy demeanor. The closer you get, the more you can hear him swearing under his breath.]

[green-is-the-leader]

[It gets closer and closer, before it dives towards this man in an attempt to tackle him to the ground. It throws its full body weight on him.]

[Rage is coursing through its entire being.]

[shadow-but-bright]

[He yells out of surprise once you reach him, and isn’t able to avoid your tackle whatsoever. He goes down face first into the rotting wood.]

[The stranger starts struggling to get away.]

[green-is-the-leader]

[It presses against the man with all its might to keep him on the ground. It vaguely remembers having a dagger on its hip. Maybe it still has it? With such a close distance, the sword would be inconvenient.]

[It reaches for its hip, and instead finds a different dagger, that it picked up earlier at the forgery.]

[Perfect.]

[It stabs the man's shoulder, first.]

[shadow-but-bright]

[He barely manages to cut off a scream when your dagger sinks into his flesh, but even then, he still continues to struggle to push himself up. This man certainly isn’t going down without a fight, it seems. But it also doesn’t seem like he can push you off of him like this.]

[green-is-the-leader]

[Good. It rips its dagger out of the man's shoulder, and stabs it in a random spot. It doesn't care where it stabs, it just wants this man to feel pain. To feel torture in his last moments.]

[Nothing it does will atone for the actions this man has done to it and Ribbon. He surely tortured Ribbon, too. He won't get away from this.]

[It rips its dagger out again, and brings it back down. Out, in, out, in, twist, out, in.]

[shadow-but-bright]

[As you stab over and over again, slowly, the stranger stops struggling. Blood splatters from the dozen stab wounds and onto you, along with onto the rotting wooden floors. He’s still alive, obviously, but he’s getting there.]

[green-is-the-leader]

[This isn't about how much the man is suffering anymore. All it sees is blood. All it feels is rage. In, out, in, out, same spot, different spot, over and over and over again.]

[It feels good. It feels good to be the perfect doll and crush this man's life for its master. For its love. It feels good to save Ribbon. This is what saving looks like.]

[It feels good to give this man everything he deserves.]

[shadow-but-bright]

[Eventually, the man stops moving.]

[Eventually, he stops breathing, too.]

[There is nothing left beneath you.]

[green-is-the-leader]

[Eventually, it pulls away. The dagger pulls out of the body and clatters to the ground. It steps away. The rage isn't gone. It should suppress the rage, to be the perfect doll.]

[It's seeing shadows. They look like people. There must still be people here. But it hears nothing.]

[It will focus on killing them later. It's tired. It must save Ribbon now, instead.]

[It decides to enter a room it doesn't remember entering before.]

[shadow-but-bright]

[The door creaks uncomfortably as you open it. At least it doesn’t look as ready to simply fall off its hinges as most of the other doors you’ve seen in this house, even though that isn’t saying much.]

[This room is dark. It doesn’t seem to have a single window, or if it did at one point, that window was boarded up extremely well.]

[green-is-the-leader]

[It comes across a town on its frantic journey to find Ribbon. It's not there yet, it can tell. But this town seems like the perfect spot to find a weapon. Something tells Green it'll need it.]

[It recognizes the familiar shape of a forge at the edge of town. It's sure there will be plenty of weapons there.]

[It makes a beeline for the forge. A small shop is set up next to it, selling the weapons produced there. It doesn't even look for any shopkeeper. There's a sword on the wall that it can easily reach. The weight will be off, but whatever. It should be fine. As long as it has a weapon.]

[It grabs the blade of the sword, paying no mind to the sound of its metal palm scraping against the sword. It thinks it hears the shopkeeper say something, but it ignores them. Instead, it pulls the sword off the wall and takes off running. Stealing is easy when it's able to run fast.]

[Its run turns into following the pull of the light once again. And it's led deeper and deeper into the forest. Eventually, it finds itself coming into a clearing. In the clearing is a small, run down house.]

[Whoever lived here once doesn't live here now. But the pull of its light is stronger here. Something tells it this is the place.]

[It doesn't know what's been going on, but it will get Ribbon out.]

[No matter what.]

@shadow-but-bright

[shadow-but-bright]

[The light within your flesh seems calmer than it has been in a while, but theres also a certain empty quality to it that’s rather disturbing to feel when it’s not coming from yourself. You can’t even tell who it is right now, not without the churning and burning you feel when you’re with Ribbon, or the steady calmness when it’s Zomi instead. It’s all just… Empty.]

[Even still, it tries to beckon you closer. Like it needs you to save it all.]

[The door of the run down shack seems to be off of its hinges just enough for it not to be able to close, and so it hangs slightly ajar. You think you might be able to hear voices inside, if you listen close enough.]

[green-is-the-leader]

[It approaches slowly, silently. At the mouth of the door it stops to listen. It wants info. It needs to know what's happening to its love. Once it figures that out, it can decide what these people deserve.]

[It also attempts to look into the home. It would be nice to gauge how outnumbered it may be. Not like that matters. It will still jump in and save Ribbon, even if there were hundreds of people.]

[shadow-but-bright]

[Theres a small group of people sitting in what looks to be the main room, about three of them. It definitely also smells like some sort of drug is floating around in the air, along with the walls smelling heavily of cigarette smoke.]

[They’re all chatting about something, and from what you can gather, it’s about weed and sex. Nothing all that specific as far as you can tell, though.]

[green-is-the-leader]

[Three people? Probably drugged out of their minds, too. It can take them. It doesn't care if they did anything to Ribbon or not. Ribbon's here, and they deserve to pay for anything that might have happened to him.]

[It bursts into the house, immediately swinging its sword at the neck of one of the people there.]

[shadow-but-bright]

[None of them react in time, and the most that happens is one of them falling out of a rotting wooden chair and all three yelling in surprise.]

[You manage to slice into the strangers flesh with ease, especially since they had turned towards you out of surprise. They grasp at their bleeding throat almost desperately, red pouring from their mouth with a gross gargling sound. They won’t last that much longer, that’s obvious enough.]

[green-is-the-leader]

[It doesn't need to focus on that person anymore. They're as good as dead. It whips around to the one that fell out of the chair, thrusting its sword forward, and hopefully into their heart.]

[It doesn't care about being stealthy. It's going to kill everyone here, anyways. The empty light inside of it is telling enough. These people did something to Ribbon, and they'll pay for it.]

[shadow-but-bright]

[Theres a split second where your victim tries to scramble away, but is far too clumsy and far too slow to escape. They die within a few seconds.]

[The final one there yells out a name, along with some swear words before gunning it for the door clumsily, clearly panicked.]

[green-is-the-leader]

[It stands there for a moment, watching. That eery smile plastered on its face says enough. It doesn't care if you try to get help, you touched Ribbon in some way, and you don't deserve to live after that.]

[It follows behind this new victim, but much slower. It doesn't care if someone else gets warned and comes out to fight, too. It'll just kill everyone in its way.]

[shadow-but-bright]

[Right as the man gets to the door and tries to pry it open, though it drags against the wooden floor and wont quite open enough for him to get through. He continues to struggle for a few seconds before giving up, turning, and raising his fists in preparation to fight.]

[green-is-the-leader]

[By that point, it's already caught up with him. It actually just stands and watches him struggle, completely unimpressed by the effort. This man must know that he's going to die anyways.]

[A slash of its sword drives the weapon into the man's side. He should've thought about the fact that raising his fists left his sides vulnerable. Man, these people are very incompetent fighters. And having no weapons to fight back with? It wonders why they didn't anticipate someone coming to save Ribbon.]

[Not like it matters. They're all dying today anyways.]

[shadow-but-bright]

[He obviously didn’t see that coming, from the way that the stranger screams and barely even tries to block the hit. His eyes are red, probably from the drugs, and it takes a second for the man to come to a decision.]

[After that, though, he starts to ignore the pain and lunges straight towards you in preparation to tackle you to the ground. A simple, last ditch effort, really.]

[green-is-the-leader]

[It didn't expect this man to fight back. It had expected him to cower and run. He successfully tackles it to the ground with the horrible crunch of porcelain. It winces. Ribbon won't be happy about that.]

[Despite clearly being hurt by this, it doesn't falter, and its hands immediately wrap around this man's throat. If the sword doesn't kill, then its bare hands will.]

[shadow-but-bright]

[Immediately, his own hands go up to try and pry your fingers off of him. The strangers red eyes widen in complete panic, and he tries to pull away from you.]

[Though, the loss of blood from the injury in his side seems to be affecting how effective the struggling is. This person doesn’t seem that strong at all.]

[green-is-the-leader]

[Using the weight of its body, it attempts to swing around and pin this man to the ground instead. It needs more momentum to choke him harder. It needs him to suffocate right now. The longer this takes, the more Ribbon might be suffering.]

[It can't have that.]

[shadow-but-bright]

[With a bit of effort, you succeed, and push him up from on top of you until he’s the one on his back. For a second, the struggling gets stronger out of panic, but you can tell it won’t last for long. He’s getting weaker.]

[green-is-the-leader]

[It doesn't lighten its grip. Of course it doesn't! This man doesn't deserve any sort of mercy. Green doesn't care if this person is involved in anything or not. He still deserves to die. Anyone it finds in this house will be dying today.]

[Its grip is as tight as it can possibly make it.]

[shadow-but-bright]

[Slowly, the man ceases to move, and goes limp in your grasp. Its quiet long enough that you can catch the slightest creak of a door, and then the sound of something locking.]

[At least you can tell what direction it came from.]

[green-is-the-leader]

[It pulls away slowly, grabs its discarded sword, and stabs the man in the heart, just in case. It then turns its attention to the newly locked door. It's not stupid.]

[It wonders if...]

[It approaches the door, then stabs its sword through the wood. It's pleasantly surprised at how smoothly its sword sinks into the wood. Well, this house is rather dilapidated. The wood must be rotting.]

[shadow-but-bright]

[You don’t hear anything from inside the room, but it can’t be anywhere else. Not after hearing that.]

[At the very least, the door is incredibly easy to break down.]

[green-is-the-leader]

[Well, it can just kick this door down, or break the doornob. This door is so old that anything it does will probably break it completely.]

[It pulls its sword out of the door and begins to kick the door as hard as it can. Rip it off the hinges.]

[shadow-but-bright]

[After only a couple kicks, the door breaks down into a pile of wood on the floor, and the first thing you see is a person half naked and another wearing a hoodie and sweatpants with the hood up trying to work their way out of a broken window without getting cut.]

[They both turn around to face you, and once seeing the blood covering you nearly head to toe, they both just try to scramble out faster.]

[green-is-the-leader]

[Oh, no. It's not letting these people get away. Especially not when at least one of them is clearly a perpetrator. And the other is guilty by association. They're not getting out of this. It ignores the familiarity of the half naked guy. At least for the moment. Its attention is focused on the hooded person.]

[It rushes forward, aiming its sword towards the hooded person's heart. It's not going to get creative with killing right now. It's just focused on making sure these people die.]

[shadow-but-bright]

[You manage to stab right where you wanted to, and after only a few seconds, the guy in the hoodie stops moving with his face buried in spikes of glass. You hear the guy beside you yell a swear, and stumble back from you.]

[green-is-the-leader]

[One left.]

[It rips its sword out of the man's back, and turns to face this final person.]

[It recognizes this guy. It vividly remembers being beaten to a pulp. Being screamed at. Being violently violated. A knife shoved up there. Blood all over the place. Its own blood.]

[It falters.]

[shadow-but-bright]

[That falter is enough for the familiar stranger to take the chance and bolt for the broken down door, as fast as he can. The rotting and disjointed wood trips him up a few times, but he is surprisingly competent at running away.]

[green-is-the-leader]

[Silently, it curses itself for faltering. This guy does not deserve mercy, especially after what he probably did to Ribbon. Based on how it was treated when with this man, it can only assume the worst.]

[But it can run, too. It ignores the way its body is feeling way too warm. It ignores the fact that it should sit down and cool off. It can't do that right now.]

[It gives chase, only tripping over the rotted wood once.]

[shadow-but-bright]

[You manage to catch up rather quickly, due to the mans panicked and clumsy demeanor. The closer you get, the more you can hear him swearing under his breath.]

[green-is-the-leader]

[It gets closer and closer, before it dives towards this man in an attempt to tackle him to the ground. It throws its full body weight on him.]

[Rage is coursing through its entire being.]

[shadow-but-bright]

[He yells out of surprise once you reach him, and isn’t able to avoid your tackle whatsoever. He goes down face first into the rotting wood.]

[The stranger starts struggling to get away.]

[green-is-the-leader]

[It presses against the man with all its might to keep him on the ground. It vaguely remembers having a dagger on its hip. Maybe it still has it? With such a close distance, the sword would be inconvenient.]

[It reaches for its hip, and instead finds a different dagger, that it picked up earlier at the forgery.]

[Perfect.]

[It stabs the man's shoulder, first.]

[shadow-but-bright]

[He barely manages to cut off a scream when your dagger sinks into his flesh, but even then, he still continues to struggle to push himself up. This man certainly isn’t going down without a fight, it seems. But it also doesn’t seem like he can push you off of him like this.]

[green-is-the-leader]

[Good. It rips its dagger out of the man's shoulder, and stabs it in a random spot. It doesn't care where it stabs, it just wants this man to feel pain. To feel torture in his last moments.]

[Nothing it does will atone for the actions this man has done to it and Ribbon. He surely tortured Ribbon, too. He won't get away from this.]

[It rips its dagger out again, and brings it back down. Out, in, out, in, twist, out, in.]

[shadow-but-bright]

[As you stab over and over again, slowly, the stranger stops struggling. Blood splatters from the dozen stab wounds and onto you, along with onto the rotting wooden floors. He’s still alive, obviously, but he’s getting there.]

[green-is-the-leader]

[This isn't about how much the man is suffering anymore. All it sees is blood. All it feels is rage. In, out, in, out, same spot, different spot, over and over and over again.]

[It feels good. It feels good to be the perfect doll and crush this man's life for its master. For its love. It feels good to save Ribbon. This is what saving looks like.]

[It feels good to give this man everything he deserves.]

[shadow-but-bright]

[Eventually, the man stops moving.]

[Eventually, he stops breathing, too.]

[There is nothing left beneath you.]

[shadow-but-bright]

*generally, people feel them before seeing them. there’s a cool chill in the air, and the faint presence of something watching. that presence normally feels comforting, and while it isn’t malicious right now, something about it feels wrong.*

*something smells like vanilla. there’s a hint of lemon in there too.*

*finally, they show themselves. they look different from before (is that blood on their claws…?) but it’s still recognizably them. they’re holding a plate of evil cookies.*

…ribbon? bee? um, mystery person from before?

*something about him (it?) doesn’t feel quite right. sure, they weren’t expecting the cheerful ribbon that loved to knit, but still. this feels much too close to faer for them.*

…do you still remember me…?

@evil-off-brand-halloween-ghost

[…He looks smaller than usual, and he’s wearing something different than you remember him wearing, too; his regular clothes are replaced with what looks like a simple nightgown. Though the most striking part of his current appearance is what he’s holding, and his eyes, which look… Distant, and devoid of life to the point they look like a bright cyan void with nothing behind them.]

[In his arms, he holds a mask. A familiar mask that once was full of life, but now, it’s as empty as his eyes and has a large crack through it. One of the masks eyes is completely broken off.]

[There would be another person here, if he hadn’t sent him off so he could just… Be, for a while. Pretend to not exist. And he’s been doing so well at pretending to not exist, that he doesn’t even respond to you, or looks like he recognizes that you’re there at all.]

[evil-off-brand-halloween-ghost]

*they hesitate for only a second, before floating closer. whoever this is, they’re still ghosty’s friend.*

*they won’t let another friend suffer in silence.*

*carefully, they set down the plate of evil cookies next to him. it smells of lemon and vanilla, along with the signature smell of salt.*

*they look carefully at the mask. empty.*

*they know how that feels, to be clinging to a hollow memory of someone.*

*while they don’t touch him, they do float right in front of him and give a small wave, trying to gently get his attention.*

hello…? it’s okay, you don’t have to respond, just… look at me? please?

i promise i mean no harm. i wouldn’t hurt a fly, really, you don’t have to be worried! *the lie tastes bitter on the tip of their tongue.*

[shadow-but-bright]

[Still, there isn’t anything from him. No movement, not even any breathing whatsoever. Though, when you talk, it’s almost like his eyes gain a slight more amount of life to them for a second. Otherwise, though, stillness.]

[He knows you’re there—though, he doesn’t even know if he’s, well, him right now, but using those pronouns seems as fitting as he can get currently—but it’s like his body won’t respond to him. He doesn’t even really feel like forcing himself, but having another presence here is… Nice. Especially besides Green. It was just so easy to give into the call of nothingness, and let himself fall away, especially after…. After.. He stops thinking again. Later.]

[He forgets you’re there, after a few seconds, and focuses as much as he can on the presences of the broken mask in his arms.]

[evil-off-brand-halloween-ghost]

*talking seems to be doing… something. they should probably keep doing that then.*

*that’s alright. they can ramble! they’re evil at that.*

y’know it’s really hard to get alcohol as a ghost. no ghost has it, since we can’t really eat or drink, and the living tend to panic if you try to buy any. and i don’t know the first thing about making it! i had to steal the vanilla extract from the store! i still paid, though.

*they may have had to… borrow some rupees from a pompous duke (look, they don’t need to buy things often! they don’t have a lot of rupees!) but that’s aside the point.*

*the man deserved it, anyways.*

oh, and one of the cats in my forest had kittens! i helped as much as i could, and she’s a proud mother of four now. the little ones are so cute, they’re about two weeks old now!

but evil hylia, this one little guy— spawn of demise, i swear. everyone loves him, but he’s a menace.

*just like them. they’re so proud of their grandson.*

[shadow-but-bright]

[He listens, somewhat. It’s hard to focus on your voice when his mind refuses to, at first. But through times where he’s completely not listening, he finds himself managing to tune in occasionally. It’s… Nice, he thinks. He— no, that doesn’t sound right anymore, maybe… It? Yeah, something like that. It thinks it enjoys hearing nonsense rambles about nothing in particular. All of the sudden, it finds the willpower to hug Bees’ mask tighter. A small movement, but something.]

[…It thinks you said something about alcohol at one point. Now it just wants alcohol, and that becomes the main focus of its mind through the nothingness. It hasn’t had a drink in, like, a day! It thinks it needs a drink. Right now. But, still, it… Can’t move. But it’s getting there. It hopes you’ll stay, it’s easier to pull itself out of whatever this is while someone else is talking to it. While it has something else to focus on than… Everything else.]

[evil-off-brand-halloween-ghost]

*hm… something just changed. this presence feels a little bit different. more… aware, almost.*

if you’d like, we can go meet them one day. i think the cats would love you! your light feels warm, and all of the little rascals are heat leeches. if you’re lucky, the other animals might come out too! they’re more shy than the cats, though.

*they smile. it seems stressed, which makes sense, considering the… circumstances. some time with animals would probably do it some evil. snuggling with the forest creatures always helps them, at least!*

y’know, one time there was a horse in my forest. poor thing got spooked and ran into the woods, i guess. i had to guide it out through the fog. i mean, not that i would’ve been against it staying, but a dense forest isn’t really an evil place for a horse. not a lot of room to run around.

anyways, it found it’s rider and they both left safely.

*they never really got to go horseback riding much when they were alive. they travelled by foot pretty much all the time, to see the sights. they kind of regret not trying it when they still could.*

[shadow-but-bright]

[…It doesn’t know why you’re sticking around. Why would you? Ribbon is just pure evil, and not the fun and playful kind of evil that it’s more familiar with. Shouldn’t you be… Scared? Whatever. Putting yourself in danger by being around it is your decision, it supposes. It’s not like Ribbon will be back for a while anyway, he’s simply just not suited for dealing with— That. Everything. Stars, everything.]

[No, no, that’s its burden to bear the clearest memories of! And not the evil horrible bastard that deserves to be put in his place! That’s great!!]

[…]

[It must have tuned out what you were saying at some point, in favor for being suddenly hit with the giant swinging ball of a realisation that all of that was real. Stars, the hands on its body, the hands in its body, there were so many fingers trailing across its skin. It can still feel them. Every single crevice of its body was touched. It feels disgusting. It is disgusting. It wants to go back to the sweet bliss that was that feeling of nothingness, of time slipping by without a care, of not thinking. But it seems to be too late for that now.]

[Everything about itself is still distant, disconnected, even the way it starts to shake and grip the mask pressed against its chest until the edges of it dig into its skin and it starts to hurt. But it couldn’t care less about that, right now. Bright tears make its vision blurry. Something bad has happened.]

[Something bad has happened.]

[evil-off-brand-halloween-ghost]

and it—

…oh.

*it’s crying.*

*they don’t think they’ve ever seen ribbon cry. is this ribbon? it doesn’t really feel like him…*

*…but regardless, it’s a friend who’s clearly been through something terrible. they think that everyone’s gone through something awful, at this point. nobody’s okay.*

*they use their magic to gently pull the mask away; not enough to take it from it, just enough that the wood isn’t painfully pressed into it anymore.*

hey… can you hear me? *their voice becomes much softer,* i don’t know what happened, but i’m here for you. you’re safe here, i promise. whatever hurt you can’t touch you here.

*…and if that what is actually a who, they may have to pay someone a visit.*

[shadow-but-bright]

[It whines quietly when you try to move the only thing it has left of Bee away from it, but it lets you nonetheless. It almost misses the pain of the wood digging into its dry scales, but at least you don’t take it away. It would have nothing if you took this hollow mask from it. It doesn’t think it could handle that.]

[It— It needs something, and it needs it now. It forces its body to cooperate, to uncurl from its position, and once it has a free hand, it summons a bottle of alcohol from its storage. A horrible coping mechanism, but it would rather be drunk and deal with this than not be drunk and deal with this. Once it gets the top open, it downs as much of the bottle as it can in one breath. And, well, it doesn’t need to breathe, so in only a few seconds the entire thing is emptied.]

[…This stuff is strong, but it feels better already. It leans its head back onto the tree it’s sitting up against, letting its magic absorb the burn of the alcohol and provide it with a nice buzz. Its mind is a bit quieter now. It still sobs occasionally, still shakes, and it’s breathing stutters as it tries to calm itself, but it’s all better than nothing. It wipes away its tears with its scarred palm. It wants to forget. It doesn’t think it can.]

[It doesn’t acknowledge that you’ve said anything, too preoccupied with attempting to control itself, still holding the mask close.]

[evil-off-brand-halloween-ghost]

oh for the love of—

*they stop. even though they remember the consequences of the ‘Ribbon and Bee get fucking smashed in the woods’ incident, this person probably needs this right now… and if they try to take the bottle away, they’ll only make it worse right now. Maybe after it’s calmer they can talk about better coping mechanisms.*

…never mind

*once they can get it to be responsive, maybe they can offer the evil cookies and get some food in it’s system. they remember how much drinking on an empty stomach sucks from when they were alive; if they can save it some of the hangover, it’s a win in their book.*

*once it seems at least a little bit calmer, they get closer.* if you can hear me, could you nod? please?

[shadow-but-bright]

[Tears still run down its face, and you can hear it try to stifle sobs still. It doesn’t manage to look at you fully. For some reason, the tree leaves above it look… Weird, and not in the drunk way. Kind of just… In a… Weird way. Weird. It’s a but grounding, at least, watching whatever’s going on and trying to figure out what the fuck is happening. After a few seconds it remembers that you asked it something, though it wasn’t really paying attention to what you said. At all.]

Huh? […Its voice is much deeper than you’ve ever heard before. Not to mention rough, but that’s probably just from crying. It lets the empty bottle fall to the grass in favor of once again wiping tears from its face.] Didn’.. Uhm, hear you…

[It wants more alcohol. Maybe it should wait for the bottle it just downed to kick in more, though. It missed being drunk, being relatively sober during that made everything so much worse. The warmth the alcohol brings along is almost indistinguishable from its own, but it still finds comfort in the feeling.]

[evil-off-brand-halloween-ghost]

*wait— it can speak?*

*they feel pride well up in their core, for this practical stranger. still, if this is who they think it is, then it’s managed to overcome that struggle.*

*maybe, just maybe, things can get better again. maybe the damage can heal after all. they certainly hope so.*

oh, um, that’s fine. *they try their best to speak a bit more slowly than they normally do.* i was just asking if you could hear me, but you’ve already answered that! *they laugh awkwardly.*

*…now that it’s more responsive, maybe they can try to comfort it. a bottle can only do so much for so long. a friend —a shoulder to lean on— is a better and more permanent solution.*

…are you feeling alright? *a question with an obvious answer, but maybe one that’ll prompt it to confide in them a bit, if possible.*

[shadow-but-bright]

[…Is it— Is it feeling alright? Is it feeling alright. You just actually asked it that. After it stares at you like you’re stupid for a few seconds, it decides to actually respond.] What a loaded question— The fuck does it look like? [It doesn’t particularly sound aggressive, even though its wording says otherwise.]

[It summons another bottle of alcohol, this time unlabeled and clear. It’s found the unlabeled ones are the strongest. For only a second, it debates opening this one, but it decides it doesn’t care and uncorks its second bottle and takes a long drink from it.]

…What d’ya want?

[evil-off-brand-halloween-ghost]

*…yeah, okay, fair enough. they can’t even be mad about that response.*

…well, yes. let me rephrase that: do you need or want help?

*they grimace at the bottle (they can’t even smell anymore, but they can still clearly imagine the strong stench of alcohol) but don’t say or do anything to stop it from drinking.*

i’d like to help you out, if you’ll let me. …you look like you could use a friend.

*they can’t stand by and watch another friend fade away.*

[shadow-but-bright]

What’s the point? [In relishes the warm burn as it takes another drink. Its favorite part of drinking like this is the heat of it, especially since the taste is just rancid.] In, uh, helping me, I mean. It’s a waste of your time. [Despite the amount of alcohol it’s already had, it seems to be functioning surprisingly well.]

I don’ need help. I’m— He’s— Ribbon is, dangerous. ‘Kay? ‘S better if you leave. [Another long drink. It thinks it feels its skin crawling uncomfortably. Trying to ignore that feeling, it opts for trying to readjust its legs into a more comfortable position, though lately, it’s realised it can’t really… Move its legs just by trying anymore. So instead, it busies its hands with doing it manually, after setting the mask and its bottle to the side temporarily.]

[It still hurts.]

[green-is-the-leader]

[It comes across a town on its frantic journey to find Ribbon. It's not there yet, it can tell. But this town seems like the perfect spot to find a weapon. Something tells Green it'll need it.]

[It recognizes the familiar shape of a forge at the edge of town. It's sure there will be plenty of weapons there.]

[It makes a beeline for the forge. A small shop is set up next to it, selling the weapons produced there. It doesn't even look for any shopkeeper. There's a sword on the wall that it can easily reach. The weight will be off, but whatever. It should be fine. As long as it has a weapon.]

[It grabs the blade of the sword, paying no mind to the sound of its metal palm scraping against the sword. It thinks it hears the shopkeeper say something, but it ignores them. Instead, it pulls the sword off the wall and takes off running. Stealing is easy when it's able to run fast.]

[Its run turns into following the pull of the light once again. And it's led deeper and deeper into the forest. Eventually, it finds itself coming into a clearing. In the clearing is a small, run down house.]

[Whoever lived here once doesn't live here now. But the pull of its light is stronger here. Something tells it this is the place.]

[It doesn't know what's been going on, but it will get Ribbon out.]

[No matter what.]

@shadow-but-bright

[shadow-but-bright]

[The light within your flesh seems calmer than it has been in a while, but theres also a certain empty quality to it that’s rather disturbing to feel when it’s not coming from yourself. You can’t even tell who it is right now, not without the churning and burning you feel when you’re with Ribbon, or the steady calmness when it’s Zomi instead. It’s all just… Empty.]

[Even still, it tries to beckon you closer. Like it needs you to save it all.]

[The door of the run down shack seems to be off of its hinges just enough for it not to be able to close, and so it hangs slightly ajar. You think you might be able to hear voices inside, if you listen close enough.]

[green-is-the-leader]

[It approaches slowly, silently. At the mouth of the door it stops to listen. It wants info. It needs to know what's happening to its love. Once it figures that out, it can decide what these people deserve.]

[It also attempts to look into the home. It would be nice to gauge how outnumbered it may be. Not like that matters. It will still jump in and save Ribbon, even if there were hundreds of people.]

[shadow-but-bright]

[Theres a small group of people sitting in what looks to be the main room, about three of them. It definitely also smells like some sort of drug is floating around in the air, along with the walls smelling heavily of cigarette smoke.]

[They’re all chatting about something, and from what you can gather, it’s about weed and sex. Nothing all that specific as far as you can tell, though.]

[green-is-the-leader]

[Three people? Probably drugged out of their minds, too. It can take them. It doesn't care if they did anything to Ribbon or not. Ribbon's here, and they deserve to pay for anything that might have happened to him.]

[It bursts into the house, immediately swinging its sword at the neck of one of the people there.]

[shadow-but-bright]

[None of them react in time, and the most that happens is one of them falling out of a rotting wooden chair and all three yelling in surprise.]

[You manage to slice into the strangers flesh with ease, especially since they had turned towards you out of surprise. They grasp at their bleeding throat almost desperately, red pouring from their mouth with a gross gargling sound. They won’t last that much longer, that’s obvious enough.]

[green-is-the-leader]

[It doesn't need to focus on that person anymore. They're as good as dead. It whips around to the one that fell out of the chair, thrusting its sword forward, and hopefully into their heart.]

[It doesn't care about being stealthy. It's going to kill everyone here, anyways. The empty light inside of it is telling enough. These people did something to Ribbon, and they'll pay for it.]

[shadow-but-bright]

[Theres a split second where your victim tries to scramble away, but is far too clumsy and far too slow to escape. They die within a few seconds.]

[The final one there yells out a name, along with some swear words before gunning it for the door clumsily, clearly panicked.]

[green-is-the-leader]

[It stands there for a moment, watching. That eery smile plastered on its face says enough. It doesn't care if you try to get help, you touched Ribbon in some way, and you don't deserve to live after that.]

[It follows behind this new victim, but much slower. It doesn't care if someone else gets warned and comes out to fight, too. It'll just kill everyone in its way.]

[shadow-but-bright]

[Right as the man gets to the door and tries to pry it open, though it drags against the wooden floor and wont quite open enough for him to get through. He continues to struggle for a few seconds before giving up, turning, and raising his fists in preparation to fight.]

[green-is-the-leader]

[By that point, it's already caught up with him. It actually just stands and watches him struggle, completely unimpressed by the effort. This man must know that he's going to die anyways.]

[A slash of its sword drives the weapon into the man's side. He should've thought about the fact that raising his fists left his sides vulnerable. Man, these people are very incompetent fighters. And having no weapons to fight back with? It wonders why they didn't anticipate someone coming to save Ribbon.]

[Not like it matters. They're all dying today anyways.]

[shadow-but-bright]

[He obviously didn’t see that coming, from the way that the stranger screams and barely even tries to block the hit. His eyes are red, probably from the drugs, and it takes a second for the man to come to a decision.]

[After that, though, he starts to ignore the pain and lunges straight towards you in preparation to tackle you to the ground. A simple, last ditch effort, really.]

[green-is-the-leader]

[It didn't expect this man to fight back. It had expected him to cower and run. He successfully tackles it to the ground with the horrible crunch of porcelain. It winces. Ribbon won't be happy about that.]

[Despite clearly being hurt by this, it doesn't falter, and its hands immediately wrap around this man's throat. If the sword doesn't kill, then its bare hands will.]

[shadow-but-bright]

[Immediately, his own hands go up to try and pry your fingers off of him. The strangers red eyes widen in complete panic, and he tries to pull away from you.]

[Though, the loss of blood from the injury in his side seems to be affecting how effective the struggling is. This person doesn’t seem that strong at all.]

[green-is-the-leader]

[Using the weight of its body, it attempts to swing around and pin this man to the ground instead. It needs more momentum to choke him harder. It needs him to suffocate right now. The longer this takes, the more Ribbon might be suffering.]

[It can't have that.]

[shadow-but-bright]

[With a bit of effort, you succeed, and push him up from on top of you until he’s the one on his back. For a second, the struggling gets stronger out of panic, but you can tell it won’t last for long. He’s getting weaker.]

[green-is-the-leader]

[It doesn't lighten its grip. Of course it doesn't! This man doesn't deserve any sort of mercy. Green doesn't care if this person is involved in anything or not. He still deserves to die. Anyone it finds in this house will be dying today.]

[Its grip is as tight as it can possibly make it.]

[shadow-but-bright]

[Slowly, the man ceases to move, and goes limp in your grasp. Its quiet long enough that you can catch the slightest creak of a door, and then the sound of something locking.]

[At least you can tell what direction it came from.]

[green-is-the-leader]

[It pulls away slowly, grabs its discarded sword, and stabs the man in the heart, just in case. It then turns its attention to the newly locked door. It's not stupid.]

[It wonders if...]

[It approaches the door, then stabs its sword through the wood. It's pleasantly surprised at how smoothly its sword sinks into the wood. Well, this house is rather dilapidated. The wood must be rotting.]

[shadow-but-bright]

[You don’t hear anything from inside the room, but it can’t be anywhere else. Not after hearing that.]

[At the very least, the door is incredibly easy to break down.]

[green-is-the-leader]

[Well, it can just kick this door down, or break the doornob. This door is so old that anything it does will probably break it completely.]

[It pulls its sword out of the door and begins to kick the door as hard as it can. Rip it off the hinges.]

[shadow-but-bright]

[After only a couple kicks, the door breaks down into a pile of wood on the floor, and the first thing you see is a person half naked and another wearing a hoodie and sweatpants with the hood up trying to work their way out of a broken window without getting cut.]

[They both turn around to face you, and once seeing the blood covering you nearly head to toe, they both just try to scramble out faster.]

[green-is-the-leader]

[Oh, no. It's not letting these people get away. Especially not when at least one of them is clearly a perpetrator. And the other is guilty by association. They're not getting out of this. It ignores the familiarity of the half naked guy. At least for the moment. Its attention is focused on the hooded person.]

[It rushes forward, aiming its sword towards the hooded person's heart. It's not going to get creative with killing right now. It's just focused on making sure these people die.]

[shadow-but-bright]

[You manage to stab right where you wanted to, and after only a few seconds, the guy in the hoodie stops moving with his face buried in spikes of glass. You hear the guy beside you yell a swear, and stumble back from you.]

[green-is-the-leader]

[One left.]

[It rips its sword out of the man's back, and turns to face this final person.]

[It recognizes this guy. It vividly remembers being beaten to a pulp. Being screamed at. Being violently violated. A knife shoved up there. Blood all over the place. Its own blood.]

[It falters.]

[shadow-but-bright]

[That falter is enough for the familiar stranger to take the chance and bolt for the broken down door, as fast as he can. The rotting and disjointed wood trips him up a few times, but he is surprisingly competent at running away.]

[green-is-the-leader]

[Silently, it curses itself for faltering. This guy does not deserve mercy, especially after what he probably did to Ribbon. Based on how it was treated when with this man, it can only assume the worst.]

[But it can run, too. It ignores the way its body is feeling way too warm. It ignores the fact that it should sit down and cool off. It can't do that right now.]

[It gives chase, only tripping over the rotted wood once.]

[shadow-but-bright]

[You manage to catch up rather quickly, due to the mans panicked and clumsy demeanor. The closer you get, the more you can hear him swearing under his breath.]

[green-is-the-leader]

[It gets closer and closer, before it dives towards this man in an attempt to tackle him to the ground. It throws its full body weight on him.]

[Rage is coursing through its entire being.]

[shadow-but-bright]

[He yells out of surprise once you reach him, and isn’t able to avoid your tackle whatsoever. He goes down face first into the rotting wood.]

[The stranger starts struggling to get away.]

[green-is-the-leader]

[It presses against the man with all its might to keep him on the ground. It vaguely remembers having a dagger on its hip. Maybe it still has it? With such a close distance, the sword would be inconvenient.]

[It reaches for its hip, and instead finds a different dagger, that it picked up earlier at the forgery.]

[Perfect.]

[It stabs the man's shoulder, first.]

[shadow-but-bright]

[He barely manages to cut off a scream when your dagger sinks into his flesh, but even then, he still continues to struggle to push himself up. This man certainly isn’t going down without a fight, it seems. But it also doesn’t seem like he can push you off of him like this.]

[green-is-the-leader]

[Good. It rips its dagger out of the man's shoulder, and stabs it in a random spot. It doesn't care where it stabs, it just wants this man to feel pain. To feel torture in his last moments.]

[Nothing it does will atone for the actions this man has done to it and Ribbon. He surely tortured Ribbon, too. He won't get away from this.]

[It rips its dagger out again, and brings it back down. Out, in, out, in, twist, out, in.]

[shadow-but-bright]

[As you stab over and over again, slowly, the stranger stops struggling. Blood splatters from the dozen stab wounds and onto you, along with onto the rotting wooden floors. He’s still alive, obviously, but he’s getting there.]

[shadow-but-bright]

*generally, people feel them before seeing them. there’s a cool chill in the air, and the faint presence of something watching. that presence normally feels comforting, and while it isn’t malicious right now, something about it feels wrong.*

*something smells like vanilla. there’s a hint of lemon in there too.*

*finally, they show themselves. they look different from before (is that blood on their claws…?) but it’s still recognizably them. they’re holding a plate of evil cookies.*

…ribbon? bee? um, mystery person from before?

*something about him (it?) doesn’t feel quite right. sure, they weren’t expecting the cheerful ribbon that loved to knit, but still. this feels much too close to faer for them.*

…do you still remember me…?

@evil-off-brand-halloween-ghost

[…He looks smaller than usual, and he’s wearing something different than you remember him wearing, too; his regular clothes are replaced with what looks like a simple nightgown. Though the most striking part of his current appearance is what he’s holding, and his eyes, which look… Distant, and devoid of life to the point they look like a bright cyan void with nothing behind them.]

[In his arms, he holds a mask. A familiar mask that once was full of life, but now, it’s as empty as his eyes and has a large crack through it. One of the masks eyes is completely broken off.]

[There would be another person here, if he hadn’t sent him off so he could just… Be, for a while. Pretend to not exist. And he’s been doing so well at pretending to not exist, that he doesn’t even respond to you, or looks like he recognizes that you’re there at all.]

[evil-off-brand-halloween-ghost]

*they hesitate for only a second, before floating closer. whoever this is, they’re still ghosty’s friend.*

*they won’t let another friend suffer in silence.*

*carefully, they set down the plate of evil cookies next to him. it smells of lemon and vanilla, along with the signature smell of salt.*

*they look carefully at the mask. empty.*

*they know how that feels, to be clinging to a hollow memory of someone.*

*while they don’t touch him, they do float right in front of him and give a small wave, trying to gently get his attention.*

hello…? it’s okay, you don’t have to respond, just… look at me? please?

i promise i mean no harm. i wouldn’t hurt a fly, really, you don’t have to be worried! *the lie tastes bitter on the tip of their tongue.*

[shadow-but-bright]

[Still, there isn’t anything from him. No movement, not even any breathing whatsoever. Though, when you talk, it’s almost like his eyes gain a slight more amount of life to them for a second. Otherwise, though, stillness.]

[He knows you’re there—though, he doesn’t even know if he’s, well, him right now, but using those pronouns seems as fitting as he can get currently—but it’s like his body won’t respond to him. He doesn’t even really feel like forcing himself, but having another presence here is… Nice. Especially besides Green. It was just so easy to give into the call of nothingness, and let himself fall away, especially after…. After.. He stops thinking again. Later.]

[He forgets you’re there, after a few seconds, and focuses as much as he can on the presences of the broken mask in his arms.]

[evil-off-brand-halloween-ghost]

*talking seems to be doing… something. they should probably keep doing that then.*

*that’s alright. they can ramble! they’re evil at that.*

y’know it’s really hard to get alcohol as a ghost. no ghost has it, since we can’t really eat or drink, and the living tend to panic if you try to buy any. and i don’t know the first thing about making it! i had to steal the vanilla extract from the store! i still paid, though.

*they may have had to… borrow some rupees from a pompous duke (look, they don’t need to buy things often! they don’t have a lot of rupees!) but that’s aside the point.*

*the man deserved it, anyways.*

oh, and one of the cats in my forest had kittens! i helped as much as i could, and she’s a proud mother of four now. the little ones are so cute, they’re about two weeks old now!

but evil hylia, this one little guy— spawn of demise, i swear. everyone loves him, but he’s a menace.

*just like them. they’re so proud of their grandson.*

[shadow-but-bright]

[He listens, somewhat. It’s hard to focus on your voice when his mind refuses to, at first. But through times where he’s completely not listening, he finds himself managing to tune in occasionally. It’s… Nice, he thinks. He— no, that doesn’t sound right anymore, maybe… It? Yeah, something like that. It thinks it enjoys hearing nonsense rambles about nothing in particular. All of the sudden, it finds the willpower to hug Bees’ mask tighter. A small movement, but something.]

[…It thinks you said something about alcohol at one point. Now it just wants alcohol, and that becomes the main focus of its mind through the nothingness. It hasn’t had a drink in, like, a day! It thinks it needs a drink. Right now. But, still, it… Can’t move. But it’s getting there. It hopes you’ll stay, it’s easier to pull itself out of whatever this is while someone else is talking to it. While it has something else to focus on than… Everything else.]

[evil-off-brand-halloween-ghost]

*hm… something just changed. this presence feels a little bit different. more… aware, almost.*

if you’d like, we can go meet them one day. i think the cats would love you! your light feels warm, and all of the little rascals are heat leeches. if you’re lucky, the other animals might come out too! they’re more shy than the cats, though.

*they smile. it seems stressed, which makes sense, considering the… circumstances. some time with animals would probably do it some evil. snuggling with the forest creatures always helps them, at least!*

y’know, one time there was a horse in my forest. poor thing got spooked and ran into the woods, i guess. i had to guide it out through the fog. i mean, not that i would’ve been against it staying, but a dense forest isn’t really an evil place for a horse. not a lot of room to run around.

anyways, it found it’s rider and they both left safely.

*they never really got to go horseback riding much when they were alive. they travelled by foot pretty much all the time, to see the sights. they kind of regret not trying it when they still could.*

[shadow-but-bright]

[…It doesn’t know why you’re sticking around. Why would you? Ribbon is just pure evil, and not the fun and playful kind of evil that it’s more familiar with. Shouldn’t you be… Scared? Whatever. Putting yourself in danger by being around it is your decision, it supposes. It’s not like Ribbon will be back for a while anyway, he’s simply just not suited for dealing with— That. Everything. Stars, everything.]

[No, no, that’s its burden to bear the clearest memories of! And not the evil horrible bastard that deserves to be put in his place! That’s great!!]

[…]

[It must have tuned out what you were saying at some point, in favor for being suddenly hit with the giant swinging ball of a realisation that all of that was real. Stars, the hands on its body, the hands in its body, there were so many fingers trailing across its skin. It can still feel them. Every single crevice of its body was touched. It feels disgusting. It is disgusting. It wants to go back to the sweet bliss that was that feeling of nothingness, of time slipping by without a care, of not thinking. But it seems to be too late for that now.]

[Everything about itself is still distant, disconnected, even the way it starts to shake and grip the mask pressed against its chest until the edges of it dig into its skin and it starts to hurt. But it couldn’t care less about that, right now. Bright tears make its vision blurry. Something bad has happened.]

[Something bad has happened.]

[evil-off-brand-halloween-ghost]

and it—

…oh.

*it’s crying.*

*they don’t think they’ve ever seen ribbon cry. is this ribbon? it doesn’t really feel like him…*

*…but regardless, it’s a friend who’s clearly been through something terrible. they think that everyone’s gone through something awful, at this point. nobody’s okay.*

*they use their magic to gently pull the mask away; not enough to take it from it, just enough that the wood isn’t painfully pressed into it anymore.*

hey… can you hear me? *their voice becomes much softer,* i don’t know what happened, but i’m here for you. you’re safe here, i promise. whatever hurt you can’t touch you here.

*…and if that what is actually a who, they may have to pay someone a visit.*

[shadow-but-bright]

[It whines quietly when you try to move the only thing it has left of Bee away from it, but it lets you nonetheless. It almost misses the pain of the wood digging into its dry scales, but at least you don’t take it away. It would have nothing if you took this hollow mask from it. It doesn’t think it could handle that.]

[It— It needs something, and it needs it now. It forces its body to cooperate, to uncurl from its position, and once it has a free hand, it summons a bottle of alcohol from its storage. A horrible coping mechanism, but it would rather be drunk and deal with this than not be drunk and deal with this. Once it gets the top open, it downs as much of the bottle as it can in one breath. And, well, it doesn’t need to breathe, so in only a few seconds the entire thing is emptied.]

[…This stuff is strong, but it feels better already. It leans its head back onto the tree it’s sitting up against, letting its magic absorb the burn of the alcohol and provide it with a nice buzz. Its mind is a bit quieter now. It still sobs occasionally, still shakes, and it’s breathing stutters as it tries to calm itself, but it’s all better than nothing. It wipes away its tears with its scarred palm. It wants to forget. It doesn’t think it can.]

[It doesn’t acknowledge that you’ve said anything, too preoccupied with attempting to control itself, still holding the mask close.]

[evil-off-brand-halloween-ghost]

oh for the love of—

*they stop. even though they remember the consequences of the ‘Ribbon and Bee get fucking smashed in the woods’ incident, this person probably needs this right now… and if they try to take the bottle away, they’ll only make it worse right now. Maybe after it’s calmer they can talk about better coping mechanisms.*

…never mind

*once they can get it to be responsive, maybe they can offer the evil cookies and get some food in it’s system. they remember how much drinking on an empty stomach sucks from when they were alive; if they can save it some of the hangover, it’s a win in their book.*

*once it seems at least a little bit calmer, they get closer.* if you can hear me, could you nod? please?

[shadow-but-bright]

[Tears still run down its face, and you can hear it try to stifle sobs still. It doesn’t manage to look at you fully. For some reason, the tree leaves above it look… Weird, and not in the drunk way. Kind of just… In a… Weird way. Weird. It’s a but grounding, at least, watching whatever’s going on and trying to figure out what the fuck is happening. After a few seconds it remembers that you asked it something, though it wasn’t really paying attention to what you said. At all.]

Huh? […Its voice is much deeper than you’ve ever heard before. Not to mention rough, but that’s probably just from crying. It lets the empty bottle fall to the grass in favor of once again wiping tears from its face.] Didn’.. Uhm, hear you…

[It wants more alcohol. Maybe it should wait for the bottle it just downed to kick in more, though. It missed being drunk, being relatively sober during that made everything so much worse. The warmth the alcohol brings along is almost indistinguishable from its own, but it still finds comfort in the feeling.]

[evil-off-brand-halloween-ghost]

*wait— it can speak?*

*they feel pride well up in their core, for this practical stranger. still, if this is who they think it is, then it’s managed to overcome that struggle.*

*maybe, just maybe, things can get better again. maybe the damage can heal after all. they certainly hope so.*

oh, um, that’s fine. *they try their best to speak a bit more slowly than they normally do.* i was just asking if you could hear me, but you’ve already answered that! *they laugh awkwardly.*

*…now that it’s more responsive, maybe they can try to comfort it. a bottle can only do so much for so long. a friend —a shoulder to lean on— is a better and more permanent solution.*

…are you feeling alright? *a question with an obvious answer, but maybe one that’ll prompt it to confide in them a bit, if possible.*

[shadow-but-bright]

[…Is it— Is it feeling alright? Is it feeling alright. You just actually asked it that. After it stares at you like you’re stupid for a few seconds, it decides to actually respond.] What a loaded question— The fuck does it look like? [It doesn’t particularly sound aggressive, even though its wording says otherwise.]

[It summons another bottle of alcohol, this time unlabeled and clear. It’s found the unlabeled ones are the strongest. For only a second, it debates opening this one, but it decides it doesn’t care and uncorks its second bottle and takes a long drink from it.]

…What d’ya want?

[green-is-the-leader]

[It comes across a town on its frantic journey to find Ribbon. It's not there yet, it can tell. But this town seems like the perfect spot to find a weapon. Something tells Green it'll need it.]

[It recognizes the familiar shape of a forge at the edge of town. It's sure there will be plenty of weapons there.]

[It makes a beeline for the forge. A small shop is set up next to it, selling the weapons produced there. It doesn't even look for any shopkeeper. There's a sword on the wall that it can easily reach. The weight will be off, but whatever. It should be fine. As long as it has a weapon.]

[It grabs the blade of the sword, paying no mind to the sound of its metal palm scraping against the sword. It thinks it hears the shopkeeper say something, but it ignores them. Instead, it pulls the sword off the wall and takes off running. Stealing is easy when it's able to run fast.]

[Its run turns into following the pull of the light once again. And it's led deeper and deeper into the forest. Eventually, it finds itself coming into a clearing. In the clearing is a small, run down house.]

[Whoever lived here once doesn't live here now. But the pull of its light is stronger here. Something tells it this is the place.]

[It doesn't know what's been going on, but it will get Ribbon out.]

[No matter what.]

@shadow-but-bright

[shadow-but-bright]

[The light within your flesh seems calmer than it has been in a while, but theres also a certain empty quality to it that’s rather disturbing to feel when it’s not coming from yourself. You can’t even tell who it is right now, not without the churning and burning you feel when you’re with Ribbon, or the steady calmness when it’s Zomi instead. It’s all just… Empty.]

[Even still, it tries to beckon you closer. Like it needs you to save it all.]

[The door of the run down shack seems to be off of its hinges just enough for it not to be able to close, and so it hangs slightly ajar. You think you might be able to hear voices inside, if you listen close enough.]

[green-is-the-leader]

[It approaches slowly, silently. At the mouth of the door it stops to listen. It wants info. It needs to know what's happening to its love. Once it figures that out, it can decide what these people deserve.]

[It also attempts to look into the home. It would be nice to gauge how outnumbered it may be. Not like that matters. It will still jump in and save Ribbon, even if there were hundreds of people.]

[shadow-but-bright]

[Theres a small group of people sitting in what looks to be the main room, about three of them. It definitely also smells like some sort of drug is floating around in the air, along with the walls smelling heavily of cigarette smoke.]

[They’re all chatting about something, and from what you can gather, it’s about weed and sex. Nothing all that specific as far as you can tell, though.]

[green-is-the-leader]

[Three people? Probably drugged out of their minds, too. It can take them. It doesn't care if they did anything to Ribbon or not. Ribbon's here, and they deserve to pay for anything that might have happened to him.]

[It bursts into the house, immediately swinging its sword at the neck of one of the people there.]

[shadow-but-bright]

[None of them react in time, and the most that happens is one of them falling out of a rotting wooden chair and all three yelling in surprise.]

[You manage to slice into the strangers flesh with ease, especially since they had turned towards you out of surprise. They grasp at their bleeding throat almost desperately, red pouring from their mouth with a gross gargling sound. They won’t last that much longer, that’s obvious enough.]

[green-is-the-leader]

[It doesn't need to focus on that person anymore. They're as good as dead. It whips around to the one that fell out of the chair, thrusting its sword forward, and hopefully into their heart.]

[It doesn't care about being stealthy. It's going to kill everyone here, anyways. The empty light inside of it is telling enough. These people did something to Ribbon, and they'll pay for it.]

[shadow-but-bright]

[Theres a split second where your victim tries to scramble away, but is far too clumsy and far too slow to escape. They die within a few seconds.]

[The final one there yells out a name, along with some swear words before gunning it for the door clumsily, clearly panicked.]

[green-is-the-leader]

[It stands there for a moment, watching. That eery smile plastered on its face says enough. It doesn't care if you try to get help, you touched Ribbon in some way, and you don't deserve to live after that.]

[It follows behind this new victim, but much slower. It doesn't care if someone else gets warned and comes out to fight, too. It'll just kill everyone in its way.]

[shadow-but-bright]

[Right as the man gets to the door and tries to pry it open, though it drags against the wooden floor and wont quite open enough for him to get through. He continues to struggle for a few seconds before giving up, turning, and raising his fists in preparation to fight.]

[green-is-the-leader]

[By that point, it's already caught up with him. It actually just stands and watches him struggle, completely unimpressed by the effort. This man must know that he's going to die anyways.]

[A slash of its sword drives the weapon into the man's side. He should've thought about the fact that raising his fists left his sides vulnerable. Man, these people are very incompetent fighters. And having no weapons to fight back with? It wonders why they didn't anticipate someone coming to save Ribbon.]

[Not like it matters. They're all dying today anyways.]

[shadow-but-bright]

[He obviously didn’t see that coming, from the way that the stranger screams and barely even tries to block the hit. His eyes are red, probably from the drugs, and it takes a second for the man to come to a decision.]

[After that, though, he starts to ignore the pain and lunges straight towards you in preparation to tackle you to the ground. A simple, last ditch effort, really.]

[green-is-the-leader]

[It didn't expect this man to fight back. It had expected him to cower and run. He successfully tackles it to the ground with the horrible crunch of porcelain. It winces. Ribbon won't be happy about that.]

[Despite clearly being hurt by this, it doesn't falter, and its hands immediately wrap around this man's throat. If the sword doesn't kill, then its bare hands will.]

[shadow-but-bright]

[Immediately, his own hands go up to try and pry your fingers off of him. The strangers red eyes widen in complete panic, and he tries to pull away from you.]

[Though, the loss of blood from the injury in his side seems to be affecting how effective the struggling is. This person doesn’t seem that strong at all.]

[green-is-the-leader]

[Using the weight of its body, it attempts to swing around and pin this man to the ground instead. It needs more momentum to choke him harder. It needs him to suffocate right now. The longer this takes, the more Ribbon might be suffering.]

[It can't have that.]

[shadow-but-bright]

[With a bit of effort, you succeed, and push him up from on top of you until he’s the one on his back. For a second, the struggling gets stronger out of panic, but you can tell it won’t last for long. He’s getting weaker.]

[green-is-the-leader]

[It doesn't lighten its grip. Of course it doesn't! This man doesn't deserve any sort of mercy. Green doesn't care if this person is involved in anything or not. He still deserves to die. Anyone it finds in this house will be dying today.]

[Its grip is as tight as it can possibly make it.]

[shadow-but-bright]

[Slowly, the man ceases to move, and goes limp in your grasp. Its quiet long enough that you can catch the slightest creak of a door, and then the sound of something locking.]

[At least you can tell what direction it came from.]

[green-is-the-leader]

[It pulls away slowly, grabs its discarded sword, and stabs the man in the heart, just in case. It then turns its attention to the newly locked door. It's not stupid.]

[It wonders if...]

[It approaches the door, then stabs its sword through the wood. It's pleasantly surprised at how smoothly its sword sinks into the wood. Well, this house is rather dilapidated. The wood must be rotting.]

[shadow-but-bright]

[You don’t hear anything from inside the room, but it can’t be anywhere else. Not after hearing that.]

[At the very least, the door is incredibly easy to break down.]

[green-is-the-leader]

[Well, it can just kick this door down, or break the doornob. This door is so old that anything it does will probably break it completely.]

[It pulls its sword out of the door and begins to kick the door as hard as it can. Rip it off the hinges.]

[shadow-but-bright]

[After only a couple kicks, the door breaks down into a pile of wood on the floor, and the first thing you see is a person half naked and another wearing a hoodie and sweatpants with the hood up trying to work their way out of a broken window without getting cut.]

[They both turn around to face you, and once seeing the blood covering you nearly head to toe, they both just try to scramble out faster.]

[green-is-the-leader]

[Oh, no. It's not letting these people get away. Especially not when at least one of them is clearly a perpetrator. And the other is guilty by association. They're not getting out of this. It ignores the familiarity of the half naked guy. At least for the moment. Its attention is focused on the hooded person.]

[It rushes forward, aiming its sword towards the hooded person's heart. It's not going to get creative with killing right now. It's just focused on making sure these people die.]

[shadow-but-bright]

[You manage to stab right where you wanted to, and after only a few seconds, the guy in the hoodie stops moving with his face buried in spikes of glass. You hear the guy beside you yell a swear, and stumble back from you.]

[green-is-the-leader]

[One left.]

[It rips its sword out of the man's back, and turns to face this final person.]

[It recognizes this guy. It vividly remembers being beaten to a pulp. Being screamed at. Being violently violated. A knife shoved up there. Blood all over the place. Its own blood.]

[It falters.]

[shadow-but-bright]

[That falter is enough for the familiar stranger to take the chance and bolt for the broken down door, as fast as he can. The rotting and disjointed wood trips him up a few times, but he is surprisingly competent at running away.]

[green-is-the-leader]

[Silently, it curses itself for faltering. This guy does not deserve mercy, especially after what he probably did to Ribbon. Based on how it was treated when with this man, it can only assume the worst.]

[But it can run, too. It ignores the way its body is feeling way too warm. It ignores the fact that it should sit down and cool off. It can't do that right now.]

[It gives chase, only tripping over the rotted wood once.]

[shadow-but-bright]

[You manage to catch up rather quickly, due to the mans panicked and clumsy demeanor. The closer you get, the more you can hear him swearing under his breath.]

[green-is-the-leader]

[It gets closer and closer, before it dives towards this man in an attempt to tackle him to the ground. It throws its full body weight on him.]

[Rage is coursing through its entire being.]

[shadow-but-bright]

[He yells out of surprise once you reach him, and isn’t able to avoid your tackle whatsoever. He goes down face first into the rotting wood.]

[The stranger starts struggling to get away.]

[green-is-the-leader]

[It presses against the man with all its might to keep him on the ground. It vaguely remembers having a dagger on its hip. Maybe it still has it? With such a close distance, the sword would be inconvenient.]

[It reaches for its hip, and instead finds a different dagger, that it picked up earlier at the forgery.]

[Perfect.]

[It stabs the man's shoulder, first.]

[shadow-but-bright]

[He barely manages to cut off a scream when your dagger sinks into his flesh, but even then, he still continues to struggle to push himself up. This man certainly isn’t going down without a fight, it seems. But it also doesn’t seem like he can push you off of him like this.]

[shadow-but-bright]

*generally, people feel them before seeing them. there’s a cool chill in the air, and the faint presence of something watching. that presence normally feels comforting, and while it isn’t malicious right now, something about it feels wrong.*

*something smells like vanilla. there’s a hint of lemon in there too.*

*finally, they show themselves. they look different from before (is that blood on their claws…?) but it’s still recognizably them. they’re holding a plate of evil cookies.*

…ribbon? bee? um, mystery person from before?

*something about him (it?) doesn’t feel quite right. sure, they weren’t expecting the cheerful ribbon that loved to knit, but still. this feels much too close to faer for them.*

…do you still remember me…?

@evil-off-brand-halloween-ghost

[…He looks smaller than usual, and he’s wearing something different than you remember him wearing, too; his regular clothes are replaced with what looks like a simple nightgown. Though the most striking part of his current appearance is what he’s holding, and his eyes, which look… Distant, and devoid of life to the point they look like a bright cyan void with nothing behind them.]

[In his arms, he holds a mask. A familiar mask that once was full of life, but now, it’s as empty as his eyes and has a large crack through it. One of the masks eyes is completely broken off.]

[There would be another person here, if he hadn’t sent him off so he could just… Be, for a while. Pretend to not exist. And he’s been doing so well at pretending to not exist, that he doesn’t even respond to you, or looks like he recognizes that you’re there at all.]

[evil-off-brand-halloween-ghost]

*they hesitate for only a second, before floating closer. whoever this is, they’re still ghosty’s friend.*

*they won’t let another friend suffer in silence.*

*carefully, they set down the plate of evil cookies next to him. it smells of lemon and vanilla, along with the signature smell of salt.*

*they look carefully at the mask. empty.*

*they know how that feels, to be clinging to a hollow memory of someone.*

*while they don’t touch him, they do float right in front of him and give a small wave, trying to gently get his attention.*

hello…? it’s okay, you don’t have to respond, just… look at me? please?

i promise i mean no harm. i wouldn’t hurt a fly, really, you don’t have to be worried! *the lie tastes bitter on the tip of their tongue.*

[shadow-but-bright]

[Still, there isn’t anything from him. No movement, not even any breathing whatsoever. Though, when you talk, it’s almost like his eyes gain a slight more amount of life to them for a second. Otherwise, though, stillness.]

[He knows you’re there—though, he doesn’t even know if he’s, well, him right now, but using those pronouns seems as fitting as he can get currently—but it’s like his body won’t respond to him. He doesn’t even really feel like forcing himself, but having another presence here is… Nice. Especially besides Green. It was just so easy to give into the call of nothingness, and let himself fall away, especially after…. After.. He stops thinking again. Later.]

[He forgets you’re there, after a few seconds, and focuses as much as he can on the presences of the broken mask in his arms.]

[evil-off-brand-halloween-ghost]

*talking seems to be doing… something. they should probably keep doing that then.*

*that’s alright. they can ramble! they’re evil at that.*

y’know it’s really hard to get alcohol as a ghost. no ghost has it, since we can’t really eat or drink, and the living tend to panic if you try to buy any. and i don’t know the first thing about making it! i had to steal the vanilla extract from the store! i still paid, though.

*they may have had to… borrow some rupees from a pompous duke (look, they don’t need to buy things often! they don’t have a lot of rupees!) but that’s aside the point.*

*the man deserved it, anyways.*

oh, and one of the cats in my forest had kittens! i helped as much as i could, and she’s a proud mother of four now. the little ones are so cute, they’re about two weeks old now!

but evil hylia, this one little guy— spawn of demise, i swear. everyone loves him, but he’s a menace.

*just like them. they’re so proud of their grandson.*

[shadow-but-bright]

[He listens, somewhat. It’s hard to focus on your voice when his mind refuses to, at first. But through times where he’s completely not listening, he finds himself managing to tune in occasionally. It’s… Nice, he thinks. He— no, that doesn’t sound right anymore, maybe… It? Yeah, something like that. It thinks it enjoys hearing nonsense rambles about nothing in particular. All of the sudden, it finds the willpower to hug Bees’ mask tighter. A small movement, but something.]

[…It thinks you said something about alcohol at one point. Now it just wants alcohol, and that becomes the main focus of its mind through the nothingness. It hasn’t had a drink in, like, a day! It thinks it needs a drink. Right now. But, still, it… Can’t move. But it’s getting there. It hopes you’ll stay, it’s easier to pull itself out of whatever this is while someone else is talking to it. While it has something else to focus on than… Everything else.]

[evil-off-brand-halloween-ghost]

*hm… something just changed. this presence feels a little bit different. more… aware, almost.*

if you’d like, we can go meet them one day. i think the cats would love you! your light feels warm, and all of the little rascals are heat leeches. if you’re lucky, the other animals might come out too! they’re more shy than the cats, though.

*they smile. it seems stressed, which makes sense, considering the… circumstances. some time with animals would probably do it some evil. snuggling with the forest creatures always helps them, at least!*

y’know, one time there was a horse in my forest. poor thing got spooked and ran into the woods, i guess. i had to guide it out through the fog. i mean, not that i would’ve been against it staying, but a dense forest isn’t really an evil place for a horse. not a lot of room to run around.

anyways, it found it’s rider and they both left safely.

*they never really got to go horseback riding much when they were alive. they travelled by foot pretty much all the time, to see the sights. they kind of regret not trying it when they still could.*

[shadow-but-bright]

[…It doesn’t know why you’re sticking around. Why would you? Ribbon is just pure evil, and not the fun and playful kind of evil that it’s more familiar with. Shouldn’t you be… Scared? Whatever. Putting yourself in danger by being around it is your decision, it supposes. It’s not like Ribbon will be back for a while anyway, he’s simply just not suited for dealing with— That. Everything. Stars, everything.]

[No, no, that’s its burden to bear the clearest memories of! And not the evil horrible bastard that deserves to be put in his place! That’s great!!]

[…]

[It must have tuned out what you were saying at some point, in favor for being suddenly hit with the giant swinging ball of a realisation that all of that was real. Stars, the hands on its body, the hands in its body, there were so many fingers trailing across its skin. It can still feel them. Every single crevice of its body was touched. It feels disgusting. It is disgusting. It wants to go back to the sweet bliss that was that feeling of nothingness, of time slipping by without a care, of not thinking. But it seems to be too late for that now.]

[Everything about itself is still distant, disconnected, even the way it starts to shake and grip the mask pressed against its chest until the edges of it dig into its skin and it starts to hurt. But it couldn’t care less about that, right now. Bright tears make its vision blurry. Something bad has happened.]

[Something bad has happened.]

[evil-off-brand-halloween-ghost]

and it—

…oh.

*it’s crying.*

*they don’t think they’ve ever seen ribbon cry. is this ribbon? it doesn’t really feel like him…*

*…but regardless, it’s a friend who’s clearly been through something terrible. they think that everyone’s gone through something awful, at this point. nobody’s okay.*

*they use their magic to gently pull the mask away; not enough to take it from it, just enough that the wood isn’t painfully pressed into it anymore.*

hey… can you hear me? *their voice becomes much softer,* i don’t know what happened, but i’m here for you. you’re safe here, i promise. whatever hurt you can’t touch you here.

*…and if that what is actually a who, they may have to pay someone a visit.*

[shadow-but-bright]

[It whines quietly when you try to move the only thing it has left of Bee away from it, but it lets you nonetheless. It almost misses the pain of the wood digging into its dry scales, but at least you don’t take it away. It would have nothing if you took this hollow mask from it. It doesn’t think it could handle that.]

[It— It needs something, and it needs it now. It forces its body to cooperate, to uncurl from its position, and once it has a free hand, it summons a bottle of alcohol from its storage. A horrible coping mechanism, but it would rather be drunk and deal with this than not be drunk and deal with this. Once it gets the top open, it downs as much of the bottle as it can in one breath. And, well, it doesn’t need to breathe, so in only a few seconds the entire thing is emptied.]

[…This stuff is strong, but it feels better already. It leans its head back onto the tree it’s sitting up against, letting its magic absorb the burn of the alcohol and provide it with a nice buzz. Its mind is a bit quieter now. It still sobs occasionally, still shakes, and it’s breathing stutters as it tries to calm itself, but it’s all better than nothing. It wipes away its tears with its scarred palm. It wants to forget. It doesn’t think it can.]

[It doesn’t acknowledge that you’ve said anything, too preoccupied with attempting to control itself, still holding the mask close.]

[evil-off-brand-halloween-ghost]

oh for the love of—

*they stop. even though they remember the consequences of the ‘Ribbon and Bee get fucking smashed in the woods’ incident, this person probably needs this right now… and if they try to take the bottle away, they’ll only make it worse right now. Maybe after it’s calmer they can talk about better coping mechanisms.*

…never mind

*once they can get it to be responsive, maybe they can offer the evil cookies and get some food in it’s system. they remember how much drinking on an empty stomach sucks from when they were alive; if they can save it some of the hangover, it’s a win in their book.*

*once it seems at least a little bit calmer, they get closer.* if you can hear me, could you nod? please?

[shadow-but-bright]

[Tears still run down its face, and you can hear it try to stifle sobs still. It doesn’t manage to look at you fully. For some reason, the tree leaves above it look… Weird, and not in the drunk way. Kind of just… In a… Weird way. Weird. It’s a but grounding, at least, watching whatever’s going on and trying to figure out what the fuck is happening. After a few seconds it remembers that you asked it something, though it wasn’t really paying attention to what you said. At all.]

Huh? […Its voice is much deeper than you’ve ever heard before. Not to mention rough, but that’s probably just from crying. It lets the empty bottle fall to the grass in favor of once again wiping tears from its face.] Didn’.. Uhm, hear you…

[It wants more alcohol. Maybe it should wait for the bottle it just downed to kick in more, though. It missed being drunk, being relatively sober during that made everything so much worse. The warmth the alcohol brings along is almost indistinguishable from its own, but it still finds comfort in the feeling.]

[green-is-the-leader]

[It comes across a town on its frantic journey to find Ribbon. It's not there yet, it can tell. But this town seems like the perfect spot to find a weapon. Something tells Green it'll need it.]

[It recognizes the familiar shape of a forge at the edge of town. It's sure there will be plenty of weapons there.]

[It makes a beeline for the forge. A small shop is set up next to it, selling the weapons produced there. It doesn't even look for any shopkeeper. There's a sword on the wall that it can easily reach. The weight will be off, but whatever. It should be fine. As long as it has a weapon.]

[It grabs the blade of the sword, paying no mind to the sound of its metal palm scraping against the sword. It thinks it hears the shopkeeper say something, but it ignores them. Instead, it pulls the sword off the wall and takes off running. Stealing is easy when it's able to run fast.]

[Its run turns into following the pull of the light once again. And it's led deeper and deeper into the forest. Eventually, it finds itself coming into a clearing. In the clearing is a small, run down house.]

[Whoever lived here once doesn't live here now. But the pull of its light is stronger here. Something tells it this is the place.]

[It doesn't know what's been going on, but it will get Ribbon out.]

[No matter what.]

@shadow-but-bright

[shadow-but-bright]

[The light within your flesh seems calmer than it has been in a while, but theres also a certain empty quality to it that’s rather disturbing to feel when it’s not coming from yourself. You can’t even tell who it is right now, not without the churning and burning you feel when you’re with Ribbon, or the steady calmness when it’s Zomi instead. It’s all just… Empty.]

[Even still, it tries to beckon you closer. Like it needs you to save it all.]

[The door of the run down shack seems to be off of its hinges just enough for it not to be able to close, and so it hangs slightly ajar. You think you might be able to hear voices inside, if you listen close enough.]

[green-is-the-leader]

[It approaches slowly, silently. At the mouth of the door it stops to listen. It wants info. It needs to know what's happening to its love. Once it figures that out, it can decide what these people deserve.]

[It also attempts to look into the home. It would be nice to gauge how outnumbered it may be. Not like that matters. It will still jump in and save Ribbon, even if there were hundreds of people.]

[shadow-but-bright]

[Theres a small group of people sitting in what looks to be the main room, about three of them. It definitely also smells like some sort of drug is floating around in the air, along with the walls smelling heavily of cigarette smoke.]

[They’re all chatting about something, and from what you can gather, it’s about weed and sex. Nothing all that specific as far as you can tell, though.]

[green-is-the-leader]

[Three people? Probably drugged out of their minds, too. It can take them. It doesn't care if they did anything to Ribbon or not. Ribbon's here, and they deserve to pay for anything that might have happened to him.]

[It bursts into the house, immediately swinging its sword at the neck of one of the people there.]

[shadow-but-bright]

[None of them react in time, and the most that happens is one of them falling out of a rotting wooden chair and all three yelling in surprise.]

[You manage to slice into the strangers flesh with ease, especially since they had turned towards you out of surprise. They grasp at their bleeding throat almost desperately, red pouring from their mouth with a gross gargling sound. They won’t last that much longer, that’s obvious enough.]

[green-is-the-leader]

[It doesn't need to focus on that person anymore. They're as good as dead. It whips around to the one that fell out of the chair, thrusting its sword forward, and hopefully into their heart.]

[It doesn't care about being stealthy. It's going to kill everyone here, anyways. The empty light inside of it is telling enough. These people did something to Ribbon, and they'll pay for it.]

[shadow-but-bright]

[Theres a split second where your victim tries to scramble away, but is far too clumsy and far too slow to escape. They die within a few seconds.]

[The final one there yells out a name, along with some swear words before gunning it for the door clumsily, clearly panicked.]

[green-is-the-leader]

[It stands there for a moment, watching. That eery smile plastered on its face says enough. It doesn't care if you try to get help, you touched Ribbon in some way, and you don't deserve to live after that.]

[It follows behind this new victim, but much slower. It doesn't care if someone else gets warned and comes out to fight, too. It'll just kill everyone in its way.]

[shadow-but-bright]

[Right as the man gets to the door and tries to pry it open, though it drags against the wooden floor and wont quite open enough for him to get through. He continues to struggle for a few seconds before giving up, turning, and raising his fists in preparation to fight.]

[green-is-the-leader]

[By that point, it's already caught up with him. It actually just stands and watches him struggle, completely unimpressed by the effort. This man must know that he's going to die anyways.]

[A slash of its sword drives the weapon into the man's side. He should've thought about the fact that raising his fists left his sides vulnerable. Man, these people are very incompetent fighters. And having no weapons to fight back with? It wonders why they didn't anticipate someone coming to save Ribbon.]

[Not like it matters. They're all dying today anyways.]

[shadow-but-bright]

[He obviously didn’t see that coming, from the way that the stranger screams and barely even tries to block the hit. His eyes are red, probably from the drugs, and it takes a second for the man to come to a decision.]

[After that, though, he starts to ignore the pain and lunges straight towards you in preparation to tackle you to the ground. A simple, last ditch effort, really.]

[green-is-the-leader]

[It didn't expect this man to fight back. It had expected him to cower and run. He successfully tackles it to the ground with the horrible crunch of porcelain. It winces. Ribbon won't be happy about that.]

[Despite clearly being hurt by this, it doesn't falter, and its hands immediately wrap around this man's throat. If the sword doesn't kill, then its bare hands will.]

[shadow-but-bright]

[Immediately, his own hands go up to try and pry your fingers off of him. The strangers red eyes widen in complete panic, and he tries to pull away from you.]

[Though, the loss of blood from the injury in his side seems to be affecting how effective the struggling is. This person doesn’t seem that strong at all.]

[green-is-the-leader]

[Using the weight of its body, it attempts to swing around and pin this man to the ground instead. It needs more momentum to choke him harder. It needs him to suffocate right now. The longer this takes, the more Ribbon might be suffering.]

[It can't have that.]

[shadow-but-bright]

[With a bit of effort, you succeed, and push him up from on top of you until he’s the one on his back. For a second, the struggling gets stronger out of panic, but you can tell it won’t last for long. He’s getting weaker.]

[green-is-the-leader]

[It doesn't lighten its grip. Of course it doesn't! This man doesn't deserve any sort of mercy. Green doesn't care if this person is involved in anything or not. He still deserves to die. Anyone it finds in this house will be dying today.]

[Its grip is as tight as it can possibly make it.]

[shadow-but-bright]

[Slowly, the man ceases to move, and goes limp in your grasp. Its quiet long enough that you can catch the slightest creak of a door, and then the sound of something locking.]

[At least you can tell what direction it came from.]

[green-is-the-leader]

[It pulls away slowly, grabs its discarded sword, and stabs the man in the heart, just in case. It then turns its attention to the newly locked door. It's not stupid.]

[It wonders if...]

[It approaches the door, then stabs its sword through the wood. It's pleasantly surprised at how smoothly its sword sinks into the wood. Well, this house is rather dilapidated. The wood must be rotting.]

[shadow-but-bright]

[You don’t hear anything from inside the room, but it can’t be anywhere else. Not after hearing that.]

[At the very least, the door is incredibly easy to break down.]

[green-is-the-leader]

[Well, it can just kick this door down, or break the doornob. This door is so old that anything it does will probably break it completely.]

[It pulls its sword out of the door and begins to kick the door as hard as it can. Rip it off the hinges.]

[shadow-but-bright]

[After only a couple kicks, the door breaks down into a pile of wood on the floor, and the first thing you see is a person half naked and another wearing a hoodie and sweatpants with the hood up trying to work their way out of a broken window without getting cut.]

[They both turn around to face you, and once seeing the blood covering you nearly head to toe, they both just try to scramble out faster.]

[green-is-the-leader]

[Oh, no. It's not letting these people get away. Especially not when at least one of them is clearly a perpetrator. And the other is guilty by association. They're not getting out of this. It ignores the familiarity of the half naked guy. At least for the moment. Its attention is focused on the hooded person.]

[It rushes forward, aiming its sword towards the hooded person's heart. It's not going to get creative with killing right now. It's just focused on making sure these people die.]

[shadow-but-bright]

[You manage to stab right where you wanted to, and after only a few seconds, the guy in the hoodie stops moving with his face buried in spikes of glass. You hear the guy beside you yell a swear, and stumble back from you.]

[green-is-the-leader]

[One left.]

[It rips its sword out of the man's back, and turns to face this final person.]

[It recognizes this guy. It vividly remembers being beaten to a pulp. Being screamed at. Being violently violated. A knife shoved up there. Blood all over the place. Its own blood.]

[It falters.]

[shadow-but-bright]

[That falter is enough for the familiar stranger to take the chance and bolt for the broken down door, as fast as he can. The rotting and disjointed wood trips him up a few times, but he is surprisingly competent at running away.]

[green-is-the-leader]

[Silently, it curses itself for faltering. This guy does not deserve mercy, especially after what he probably did to Ribbon. Based on how it was treated when with this man, it can only assume the worst.]

[But it can run, too. It ignores the way its body is feeling way too warm. It ignores the fact that it should sit down and cool off. It can't do that right now.]

[It gives chase, only tripping over the rotted wood once.]

[shadow-but-bright]

[You manage to catch up rather quickly, due to the mans panicked and clumsy demeanor. The closer you get, the more you can hear him swearing under his breath.]

[green-is-the-leader]

[It gets closer and closer, before it dives towards this man in an attempt to tackle him to the ground. It throws its full body weight on him.]

[Rage is coursing through its entire being.]

[shadow-but-bright]

[He yells out of surprise once you reach him, and isn’t able to avoid your tackle whatsoever. He goes down face first into the rotting wood.]

[The stranger starts struggling to get away.]

[green-is-the-leader]

[It comes across a town on its frantic journey to find Ribbon. It's not there yet, it can tell. But this town seems like the perfect spot to find a weapon. Something tells Green it'll need it.]

[It recognizes the familiar shape of a forge at the edge of town. It's sure there will be plenty of weapons there.]

[It makes a beeline for the forge. A small shop is set up next to it, selling the weapons produced there. It doesn't even look for any shopkeeper. There's a sword on the wall that it can easily reach. The weight will be off, but whatever. It should be fine. As long as it has a weapon.]

[It grabs the blade of the sword, paying no mind to the sound of its metal palm scraping against the sword. It thinks it hears the shopkeeper say something, but it ignores them. Instead, it pulls the sword off the wall and takes off running. Stealing is easy when it's able to run fast.]

[Its run turns into following the pull of the light once again. And it's led deeper and deeper into the forest. Eventually, it finds itself coming into a clearing. In the clearing is a small, run down house.]

[Whoever lived here once doesn't live here now. But the pull of its light is stronger here. Something tells it this is the place.]

[It doesn't know what's been going on, but it will get Ribbon out.]

[No matter what.]

@shadow-but-bright

[shadow-but-bright]

[The light within your flesh seems calmer than it has been in a while, but theres also a certain empty quality to it that’s rather disturbing to feel when it’s not coming from yourself. You can’t even tell who it is right now, not without the churning and burning you feel when you’re with Ribbon, or the steady calmness when it’s Zomi instead. It’s all just… Empty.]

[Even still, it tries to beckon you closer. Like it needs you to save it all.]

[The door of the run down shack seems to be off of its hinges just enough for it not to be able to close, and so it hangs slightly ajar. You think you might be able to hear voices inside, if you listen close enough.]

[green-is-the-leader]

[It approaches slowly, silently. At the mouth of the door it stops to listen. It wants info. It needs to know what's happening to its love. Once it figures that out, it can decide what these people deserve.]

[It also attempts to look into the home. It would be nice to gauge how outnumbered it may be. Not like that matters. It will still jump in and save Ribbon, even if there were hundreds of people.]

[shadow-but-bright]

[Theres a small group of people sitting in what looks to be the main room, about three of them. It definitely also smells like some sort of drug is floating around in the air, along with the walls smelling heavily of cigarette smoke.]

[They’re all chatting about something, and from what you can gather, it’s about weed and sex. Nothing all that specific as far as you can tell, though.]

[green-is-the-leader]

[Three people? Probably drugged out of their minds, too. It can take them. It doesn't care if they did anything to Ribbon or not. Ribbon's here, and they deserve to pay for anything that might have happened to him.]

[It bursts into the house, immediately swinging its sword at the neck of one of the people there.]

[shadow-but-bright]

[None of them react in time, and the most that happens is one of them falling out of a rotting wooden chair and all three yelling in surprise.]

[You manage to slice into the strangers flesh with ease, especially since they had turned towards you out of surprise. They grasp at their bleeding throat almost desperately, red pouring from their mouth with a gross gargling sound. They won’t last that much longer, that’s obvious enough.]

[green-is-the-leader]

[It doesn't need to focus on that person anymore. They're as good as dead. It whips around to the one that fell out of the chair, thrusting its sword forward, and hopefully into their heart.]

[It doesn't care about being stealthy. It's going to kill everyone here, anyways. The empty light inside of it is telling enough. These people did something to Ribbon, and they'll pay for it.]

[shadow-but-bright]

[Theres a split second where your victim tries to scramble away, but is far too clumsy and far too slow to escape. They die within a few seconds.]

[The final one there yells out a name, along with some swear words before gunning it for the door clumsily, clearly panicked.]

[green-is-the-leader]

[It stands there for a moment, watching. That eery smile plastered on its face says enough. It doesn't care if you try to get help, you touched Ribbon in some way, and you don't deserve to live after that.]

[It follows behind this new victim, but much slower. It doesn't care if someone else gets warned and comes out to fight, too. It'll just kill everyone in its way.]

[shadow-but-bright]

[Right as the man gets to the door and tries to pry it open, though it drags against the wooden floor and wont quite open enough for him to get through. He continues to struggle for a few seconds before giving up, turning, and raising his fists in preparation to fight.]

[green-is-the-leader]

[By that point, it's already caught up with him. It actually just stands and watches him struggle, completely unimpressed by the effort. This man must know that he's going to die anyways.]

[A slash of its sword drives the weapon into the man's side. He should've thought about the fact that raising his fists left his sides vulnerable. Man, these people are very incompetent fighters. And having no weapons to fight back with? It wonders why they didn't anticipate someone coming to save Ribbon.]

[Not like it matters. They're all dying today anyways.]

[shadow-but-bright]

[He obviously didn’t see that coming, from the way that the stranger screams and barely even tries to block the hit. His eyes are red, probably from the drugs, and it takes a second for the man to come to a decision.]

[After that, though, he starts to ignore the pain and lunges straight towards you in preparation to tackle you to the ground. A simple, last ditch effort, really.]

[green-is-the-leader]

[It didn't expect this man to fight back. It had expected him to cower and run. He successfully tackles it to the ground with the horrible crunch of porcelain. It winces. Ribbon won't be happy about that.]

[Despite clearly being hurt by this, it doesn't falter, and its hands immediately wrap around this man's throat. If the sword doesn't kill, then its bare hands will.]

[shadow-but-bright]

[Immediately, his own hands go up to try and pry your fingers off of him. The strangers red eyes widen in complete panic, and he tries to pull away from you.]

[Though, the loss of blood from the injury in his side seems to be affecting how effective the struggling is. This person doesn’t seem that strong at all.]

[green-is-the-leader]

[Using the weight of its body, it attempts to swing around and pin this man to the ground instead. It needs more momentum to choke him harder. It needs him to suffocate right now. The longer this takes, the more Ribbon might be suffering.]

[It can't have that.]

[shadow-but-bright]

[With a bit of effort, you succeed, and push him up from on top of you until he’s the one on his back. For a second, the struggling gets stronger out of panic, but you can tell it won’t last for long. He’s getting weaker.]

[green-is-the-leader]

[It doesn't lighten its grip. Of course it doesn't! This man doesn't deserve any sort of mercy. Green doesn't care if this person is involved in anything or not. He still deserves to die. Anyone it finds in this house will be dying today.]

[Its grip is as tight as it can possibly make it.]

[shadow-but-bright]

[Slowly, the man ceases to move, and goes limp in your grasp. Its quiet long enough that you can catch the slightest creak of a door, and then the sound of something locking.]

[At least you can tell what direction it came from.]

[green-is-the-leader]

[It pulls away slowly, grabs its discarded sword, and stabs the man in the heart, just in case. It then turns its attention to the newly locked door. It's not stupid.]

[It wonders if...]

[It approaches the door, then stabs its sword through the wood. It's pleasantly surprised at how smoothly its sword sinks into the wood. Well, this house is rather dilapidated. The wood must be rotting.]

[shadow-but-bright]

[You don’t hear anything from inside the room, but it can’t be anywhere else. Not after hearing that.]

[At the very least, the door is incredibly easy to break down.]

[green-is-the-leader]

[Well, it can just kick this door down, or break the doornob. This door is so old that anything it does will probably break it completely.]

[It pulls its sword out of the door and begins to kick the door as hard as it can. Rip it off the hinges.]

[shadow-but-bright]

[After only a couple kicks, the door breaks down into a pile of wood on the floor, and the first thing you see is a person half naked and another wearing a hoodie and sweatpants with the hood up trying to work their way out of a broken window without getting cut.]

[They both turn around to face you, and once seeing the blood covering you nearly head to toe, they both just try to scramble out faster.]

[green-is-the-leader]

[Oh, no. It's not letting these people get away. Especially not when at least one of them is clearly a perpetrator. And the other is guilty by association. They're not getting out of this. It ignores the familiarity of the half naked guy. At least for the moment. Its attention is focused on the hooded person.]

[It rushes forward, aiming its sword towards the hooded person's heart. It's not going to get creative with killing right now. It's just focused on making sure these people die.]

[shadow-but-bright]

[You manage to stab right where you wanted to, and after only a few seconds, the guy in the hoodie stops moving with his face buried in spikes of glass. You hear the guy beside you yell a swear, and stumble back from you.]

[green-is-the-leader]

[One left.]

[It rips its sword out of the man's back, and turns to face this final person.]

[It recognizes this guy. It vividly remembers being beaten to a pulp. Being screamed at. Being violently violated. A knife shoved up there. Blood all over the place. Its own blood.]

[It falters.]

[shadow-but-bright]

[That falter is enough for the familiar stranger to take the chance and bolt for the broken down door, as fast as he can. The rotting and disjointed wood trips him up a few times, but he is surprisingly competent at running away.]

[green-is-the-leader]

[Silently, it curses itself for faltering. This guy does not deserve mercy, especially after what he probably did to Ribbon. Based on how it was treated when with this man, it can only assume the worst.]

[But it can run, too. It ignores the way its body is feeling way too warm. It ignores the fact that it should sit down and cool off. It can't do that right now.]

[It gives chase, only tripping over the rotted wood once.]

[shadow-but-bright]

[You manage to catch up rather quickly, due to the mans panicked and clumsy demeanor. The closer you get, the more you can hear him swearing under his breath.]

[shadow-but-bright]

*generally, people feel them before seeing them. there’s a cool chill in the air, and the faint presence of something watching. that presence normally feels comforting, and while it isn’t malicious right now, something about it feels wrong.*

*something smells like vanilla. there’s a hint of lemon in there too.*

*finally, they show themselves. they look different from before (is that blood on their claws…?) but it’s still recognizably them. they’re holding a plate of evil cookies.*

…ribbon? bee? um, mystery person from before?

*something about him (it?) doesn’t feel quite right. sure, they weren’t expecting the cheerful ribbon that loved to knit, but still. this feels much too close to faer for them.*

…do you still remember me…?

@evil-off-brand-halloween-ghost

[…He looks smaller than usual, and he’s wearing something different than you remember him wearing, too; his regular clothes are replaced with what looks like a simple nightgown. Though the most striking part of his current appearance is what he’s holding, and his eyes, which look… Distant, and devoid of life to the point they look like a bright cyan void with nothing behind them.]

[In his arms, he holds a mask. A familiar mask that once was full of life, but now, it’s as empty as his eyes and has a large crack through it. One of the masks eyes is completely broken off.]

[There would be another person here, if he hadn’t sent him off so he could just… Be, for a while. Pretend to not exist. And he’s been doing so well at pretending to not exist, that he doesn’t even respond to you, or looks like he recognizes that you’re there at all.]

[evil-off-brand-halloween-ghost]

*they hesitate for only a second, before floating closer. whoever this is, they’re still ghosty’s friend.*

*they won’t let another friend suffer in silence.*

*carefully, they set down the plate of evil cookies next to him. it smells of lemon and vanilla, along with the signature smell of salt.*

*they look carefully at the mask. empty.*

*they know how that feels, to be clinging to a hollow memory of someone.*

*while they don’t touch him, they do float right in front of him and give a small wave, trying to gently get his attention.*

hello…? it’s okay, you don’t have to respond, just… look at me? please?

i promise i mean no harm. i wouldn’t hurt a fly, really, you don’t have to be worried! *the lie tastes bitter on the tip of their tongue.*

[shadow-but-bright]

[Still, there isn’t anything from him. No movement, not even any breathing whatsoever. Though, when you talk, it’s almost like his eyes gain a slight more amount of life to them for a second. Otherwise, though, stillness.]

[He knows you’re there—though, he doesn’t even know if he’s, well, him right now, but using those pronouns seems as fitting as he can get currently—but it’s like his body won’t respond to him. He doesn’t even really feel like forcing himself, but having another presence here is… Nice. Especially besides Green. It was just so easy to give into the call of nothingness, and let himself fall away, especially after…. After.. He stops thinking again. Later.]

[He forgets you’re there, after a few seconds, and focuses as much as he can on the presences of the broken mask in his arms.]

[evil-off-brand-halloween-ghost]

*talking seems to be doing… something. they should probably keep doing that then.*

*that’s alright. they can ramble! they’re evil at that.*

y’know it’s really hard to get alcohol as a ghost. no ghost has it, since we can’t really eat or drink, and the living tend to panic if you try to buy any. and i don’t know the first thing about making it! i had to steal the vanilla extract from the store! i still paid, though.

*they may have had to… borrow some rupees from a pompous duke (look, they don’t need to buy things often! they don’t have a lot of rupees!) but that’s aside the point.*

*the man deserved it, anyways.*

oh, and one of the cats in my forest had kittens! i helped as much as i could, and she’s a proud mother of four now. the little ones are so cute, they’re about two weeks old now!

but evil hylia, this one little guy— spawn of demise, i swear. everyone loves him, but he’s a menace.

*just like them. they’re so proud of their grandson.*

[shadow-but-bright]

[He listens, somewhat. It’s hard to focus on your voice when his mind refuses to, at first. But through times where he’s completely not listening, he finds himself managing to tune in occasionally. It’s… Nice, he thinks. He— no, that doesn’t sound right anymore, maybe… It? Yeah, something like that. It thinks it enjoys hearing nonsense rambles about nothing in particular. All of the sudden, it finds the willpower to hug Bees’ mask tighter. A small movement, but something.]

[…It thinks you said something about alcohol at one point. Now it just wants alcohol, and that becomes the main focus of its mind through the nothingness. It hasn’t had a drink in, like, a day! It thinks it needs a drink. Right now. But, still, it… Can’t move. But it’s getting there. It hopes you’ll stay, it’s easier to pull itself out of whatever this is while someone else is talking to it. While it has something else to focus on than… Everything else.]

[evil-off-brand-halloween-ghost]

*hm… something just changed. this presence feels a little bit different. more… aware, almost.*

if you’d like, we can go meet them one day. i think the cats would love you! your light feels warm, and all of the little rascals are heat leeches. if you’re lucky, the other animals might come out too! they’re more shy than the cats, though.

*they smile. it seems stressed, which makes sense, considering the… circumstances. some time with animals would probably do it some evil. snuggling with the forest creatures always helps them, at least!*

y’know, one time there was a horse in my forest. poor thing got spooked and ran into the woods, i guess. i had to guide it out through the fog. i mean, not that i would’ve been against it staying, but a dense forest isn’t really an evil place for a horse. not a lot of room to run around.

anyways, it found it’s rider and they both left safely.

*they never really got to go horseback riding much when they were alive. they travelled by foot pretty much all the time, to see the sights. they kind of regret not trying it when they still could.*

[shadow-but-bright]

[…It doesn’t know why you’re sticking around. Why would you? Ribbon is just pure evil, and not the fun and playful kind of evil that it’s more familiar with. Shouldn’t you be… Scared? Whatever. Putting yourself in danger by being around it is your decision, it supposes. It’s not like Ribbon will be back for a while anyway, he’s simply just not suited for dealing with— That. Everything. Stars, everything.]

[No, no, that’s its burden to bear the clearest memories of! And not the evil horrible bastard that deserves to be put in his place! That’s great!!]

[…]

[It must have tuned out what you were saying at some point, in favor for being suddenly hit with the giant swinging ball of a realisation that all of that was real. Stars, the hands on its body, the hands in its body, there were so many fingers trailing across its skin. It can still feel them. Every single crevice of its body was touched. It feels disgusting. It is disgusting. It wants to go back to the sweet bliss that was that feeling of nothingness, of time slipping by without a care, of not thinking. But it seems to be too late for that now.]

[Everything about itself is still distant, disconnected, even the way it starts to shake and grip the mask pressed against its chest until the edges of it dig into its skin and it starts to hurt. But it couldn’t care less about that, right now. Bright tears make its vision blurry. Something bad has happened.]

[Something bad has happened.]

[evil-off-brand-halloween-ghost]

and it—

…oh.

*it’s crying.*

*they don’t think they’ve ever seen ribbon cry. is this ribbon? it doesn’t really feel like him…*

*…but regardless, it’s a friend who’s clearly been through something terrible. they think that everyone’s gone through something awful, at this point. nobody’s okay.*

*they use their magic to gently pull the mask away; not enough to take it from it, just enough that the wood isn’t painfully pressed into it anymore.*

hey… can you hear me? *their voice becomes much softer,* i don’t know what happened, but i’m here for you. you’re safe here, i promise. whatever hurt you can’t touch you here.

*…and if that what is actually a who, they may have to pay someone a visit.*

[shadow-but-bright]

[It whines quietly when you try to move the only thing it has left of Bee away from it, but it lets you nonetheless. It almost misses the pain of the wood digging into its dry scales, but at least you don’t take it away. It would have nothing if you took this hollow mask from it. It doesn’t think it could handle that.]

[It— It needs something, and it needs it now. It forces its body to cooperate, to uncurl from its position, and once it has a free hand, it summons a bottle of alcohol from its storage. A horrible coping mechanism, but it would rather be drunk and deal with this than not be drunk and deal with this. Once it gets the top open, it downs as much of the bottle as it can in one breath. And, well, it doesn’t need to breathe, so in only a few seconds the entire thing is emptied.]

[…This stuff is strong, but it feels better already. It leans its head back onto the tree it’s sitting up against, letting its magic absorb the burn of the alcohol and provide it with a nice buzz. Its mind is a bit quieter now. It still sobs occasionally, still shakes, and it’s breathing stutters as it tries to calm itself, but it’s all better than nothing. It wipes away its tears with its scarred palm. It wants to forget. It doesn’t think it can.]

[It doesn’t acknowledge that you’ve said anything, too preoccupied with attempting to control itself, still holding the mask close.]

[shadow-but-bright]

*generally, people feel them before seeing them. there’s a cool chill in the air, and the faint presence of something watching. that presence normally feels comforting, and while it isn’t malicious right now, something about it feels wrong.*

*something smells like vanilla. there’s a hint of lemon in there too.*

*finally, they show themselves. they look different from before (is that blood on their claws…?) but it’s still recognizably them. they’re holding a plate of evil cookies.*

…ribbon? bee? um, mystery person from before?

*something about him (it?) doesn’t feel quite right. sure, they weren’t expecting the cheerful ribbon that loved to knit, but still. this feels much too close to faer for them.*

…do you still remember me…?

@evil-off-brand-halloween-ghost

[…He looks smaller than usual, and he’s wearing something different than you remember him wearing, too; his regular clothes are replaced with what looks like a simple nightgown. Though the most striking part of his current appearance is what he’s holding, and his eyes, which look… Distant, and devoid of life to the point they look like a bright cyan void with nothing behind them.]

[In his arms, he holds a mask. A familiar mask that once was full of life, but now, it’s as empty as his eyes and has a large crack through it. One of the masks eyes is completely broken off.]

[There would be another person here, if he hadn’t sent him off so he could just… Be, for a while. Pretend to not exist. And he’s been doing so well at pretending to not exist, that he doesn’t even respond to you, or looks like he recognizes that you’re there at all.]

[evil-off-brand-halloween-ghost]

*they hesitate for only a second, before floating closer. whoever this is, they’re still ghosty’s friend.*

*they won’t let another friend suffer in silence.*

*carefully, they set down the plate of evil cookies next to him. it smells of lemon and vanilla, along with the signature smell of salt.*

*they look carefully at the mask. empty.*

*they know how that feels, to be clinging to a hollow memory of someone.*

*while they don’t touch him, they do float right in front of him and give a small wave, trying to gently get his attention.*

hello…? it’s okay, you don’t have to respond, just… look at me? please?

i promise i mean no harm. i wouldn’t hurt a fly, really, you don’t have to be worried! *the lie tastes bitter on the tip of their tongue.*

[shadow-but-bright]

[Still, there isn’t anything from him. No movement, not even any breathing whatsoever. Though, when you talk, it’s almost like his eyes gain a slight more amount of life to them for a second. Otherwise, though, stillness.]

[He knows you’re there—though, he doesn’t even know if he’s, well, him right now, but using those pronouns seems as fitting as he can get currently—but it’s like his body won’t respond to him. He doesn’t even really feel like forcing himself, but having another presence here is… Nice. Especially besides Green. It was just so easy to give into the call of nothingness, and let himself fall away, especially after…. After.. He stops thinking again. Later.]

[He forgets you’re there, after a few seconds, and focuses as much as he can on the presences of the broken mask in his arms.]

[evil-off-brand-halloween-ghost]

*talking seems to be doing… something. they should probably keep doing that then.*

*that’s alright. they can ramble! they’re evil at that.*

y’know it’s really hard to get alcohol as a ghost. no ghost has it, since we can’t really eat or drink, and the living tend to panic if you try to buy any. and i don’t know the first thing about making it! i had to steal the vanilla extract from the store! i still paid, though.

*they may have had to… borrow some rupees from a pompous duke (look, they don’t need to buy things often! they don’t have a lot of rupees!) but that’s aside the point.*

*the man deserved it, anyways.*

oh, and one of the cats in my forest had kittens! i helped as much as i could, and she’s a proud mother of four now. the little ones are so cute, they’re about two weeks old now!

but evil hylia, this one little guy— spawn of demise, i swear. everyone loves him, but he’s a menace.

*just like them. they’re so proud of their grandson.*

[shadow-but-bright]

[He listens, somewhat. It’s hard to focus on your voice when his mind refuses to, at first. But through times where he’s completely not listening, he finds himself managing to tune in occasionally. It’s… Nice, he thinks. He— no, that doesn’t sound right anymore, maybe… It? Yeah, something like that. It thinks it enjoys hearing nonsense rambles about nothing in particular. All of the sudden, it finds the willpower to hug Bees’ mask tighter. A small movement, but something.]

[…It thinks you said something about alcohol at one point. Now it just wants alcohol, and that becomes the main focus of its mind through the nothingness. It hasn’t had a drink in, like, a day! It thinks it needs a drink. Right now. But, still, it… Can’t move. But it’s getting there. It hopes you’ll stay, it’s easier to pull itself out of whatever this is while someone else is talking to it. While it has something else to focus on than… Everything else.]

[evil-off-brand-halloween-ghost]

*hm… something just changed. this presence feels a little bit different. more… aware, almost.*

if you’d like, we can go meet them one day. i think the cats would love you! your light feels warm, and all of the little rascals are heat leeches. if you’re lucky, the other animals might come out too! they’re more shy than the cats, though.

*they smile. it seems stressed, which makes sense, considering the… circumstances. some time with animals would probably do it some evil. snuggling with the forest creatures always helps them, at least!*

y’know, one time there was a horse in my forest. poor thing got spooked and ran into the woods, i guess. i had to guide it out through the fog. i mean, not that i would’ve been against it staying, but a dense forest isn’t really an evil place for a horse. not a lot of room to run around.

anyways, it found it’s rider and they both left safely.

*they never really got to go horseback riding much when they were alive. they travelled by foot pretty much all the time, to see the sights. they kind of regret not trying it when they still could.*

[shadow-but-bright]

[…It doesn’t know why you’re sticking around. Why would you? Ribbon is just pure evil, and not the fun and playful kind of evil that it’s more familiar with. Shouldn’t you be… Scared? Whatever. Putting yourself in danger by being around it is your decision, it supposes. It’s not like Ribbon will be back for a while anyway, he’s simply just not suited for dealing with— That. Everything. Stars, everything.]

[No, no, that’s its burden to bear the clearest memories of! And not the evil horrible bastard that deserves to be put in his place! That’s great!!]

[…]

[It must have tuned out what you were saying at some point, in favor for being suddenly hit with the giant swinging ball of a realisation that all of that was real. Stars, the hands on its body, the hands in its body, there were so many fingers trailing across its skin. It can still feel them. Every single crevice of its body was touched. It feels disgusting. It is disgusting. It wants to go back to the sweet bliss that was that feeling of nothingness, of time slipping by without a care, of not thinking. But it seems to be too late for that now.]

[Everything about itself is still distant, disconnected, even the way it starts to shake and grip the mask pressed against its chest until the edges of it dig into its skin and it starts to hurt. But it couldn’t care less about that, right now. Bright tears make its vision blurry. Something bad has happened.]

[Something bad has happened.]

[evil-off-brand-halloween-ghost]

and it—

…oh.

*it’s crying.*

*they don’t think they’ve ever seen ribbon cry. is this ribbon? it doesn’t really feel like him…*

*…but regardless, it’s a friend who’s clearly been through something terrible. they think that everyone’s gone through something awful, at this point. nobody’s okay.*

*they use their magic to gently pull the mask away; not enough to take it from it, just enough that the wood isn’t painfully pressed into it anymore.*

hey… can you hear me? *their voice becomes much softer,* i don’t know what happened, but i’m here for you. you’re safe here, i promise. whatever hurt you can’t touch you here.

*…and if that what is actually a who, they may have to pay someone a visit.*

[shadow-but-bright]

[It whines quietly when you try to move the only thing it has left of Bee away from it, but it lets you nonetheless. It almost misses the pain of the wood digging into its dry scales, but at least you don’t take it away. It would have nothing if you took this hollow mask from it. It doesn’t think it could handle that.]

[It— It needs something, and it needs it now. It forces its body to cooperate, to uncurl from its position, and once it has a free hand, it summons a bottle of alcohol from its storage. A horrible coping mechanism, but it would rather be drunk and deal with this than not be drunk and deal with this. Once it gets the top open, it downs as much of the bottle as it can in one breath. And, well, it doesn’t need to breathe, so in only a few seconds the entire thing is emptied.]

[…This stuff is strong, but it feels better already. It leans its head back onto the tree it’s sitting up against, letting its magic absorb the burn of the alcohol and provide it with a nice buzz. Its mind is a bit quieter now. It still sobs occasionally, still shakes, and it’s breathing stutters as it tries to calm itself, but it’s all better than nothing. It wipes away its tears with its scarred palm. It wants to forget. It doesn’t think it can.]

[It doesn’t acknowledge that you’ve said anything, too preoccupied with attempting to control itself, still holding the mask close.]

[shadow-but-bright]

*generally, people feel them before seeing them. there’s a cool chill in the air, and the faint presence of something watching. that presence normally feels comforting, and while it isn’t malicious right now, something about it feels wrong.*

*something smells like vanilla. there’s a hint of lemon in there too.*

*finally, they show themselves. they look different from before (is that blood on their claws…?) but it’s still recognizably them. they’re holding a plate of evil cookies.*

…ribbon? bee? um, mystery person from before?

*something about him (it?) doesn’t feel quite right. sure, they weren’t expecting the cheerful ribbon that loved to knit, but still. this feels much too close to faer for them.*

…do you still remember me…?

@evil-off-brand-halloween-ghost

[…He looks smaller than usual, and he’s wearing something different than you remember him wearing, too; his regular clothes are replaced with what looks like a simple nightgown. Though the most striking part of his current appearance is what he’s holding, and his eyes, which look… Distant, and devoid of life to the point they look like a bright cyan void with nothing behind them.]

[In his arms, he holds a mask. A familiar mask that once was full of life, but now, it’s as empty as his eyes and has a large crack through it. One of the masks eyes is completely broken off.]

[There would be another person here, if he hadn’t sent him off so he could just… Be, for a while. Pretend to not exist. And he’s been doing so well at pretending to not exist, that he doesn’t even respond to you, or looks like he recognizes that you’re there at all.]

[evil-off-brand-halloween-ghost]

*they hesitate for only a second, before floating closer. whoever this is, they’re still ghosty’s friend.*

*they won’t let another friend suffer in silence.*

*carefully, they set down the plate of evil cookies next to him. it smells of lemon and vanilla, along with the signature smell of salt.*

*they look carefully at the mask. empty.*

*they know how that feels, to be clinging to a hollow memory of someone.*

*while they don’t touch him, they do float right in front of him and give a small wave, trying to gently get his attention.*

hello…? it’s okay, you don’t have to respond, just… look at me? please?

i promise i mean no harm. i wouldn’t hurt a fly, really, you don’t have to be worried! *the lie tastes bitter on the tip of their tongue.*

[shadow-but-bright]

[Still, there isn’t anything from him. No movement, not even any breathing whatsoever. Though, when you talk, it’s almost like his eyes gain a slight more amount of life to them for a second. Otherwise, though, stillness.]

[He knows you’re there—though, he doesn’t even know if he’s, well, him right now, but using those pronouns seems as fitting as he can get currently—but it’s like his body won’t respond to him. He doesn’t even really feel like forcing himself, but having another presence here is… Nice. Especially besides Green. It was just so easy to give into the call of nothingness, and let himself fall away, especially after…. After.. He stops thinking again. Later.]

[He forgets you’re there, after a few seconds, and focuses as much as he can on the presences of the broken mask in his arms.]

[evil-off-brand-halloween-ghost]

*talking seems to be doing… something. they should probably keep doing that then.*

*that’s alright. they can ramble! they’re evil at that.*

y’know it’s really hard to get alcohol as a ghost. no ghost has it, since we can’t really eat or drink, and the living tend to panic if you try to buy any. and i don’t know the first thing about making it! i had to steal the vanilla extract from the store! i still paid, though.

*they may have had to… borrow some rupees from a pompous duke (look, they don’t need to buy things often! they don’t have a lot of rupees!) but that’s aside the point.*

*the man deserved it, anyways.*

oh, and one of the cats in my forest had kittens! i helped as much as i could, and she’s a proud mother of four now. the little ones are so cute, they’re about two weeks old now!

but evil hylia, this one little guy— spawn of demise, i swear. everyone loves him, but he’s a menace.

*just like them. they’re so proud of their grandson.*

[shadow-but-bright]

[He listens, somewhat. It’s hard to focus on your voice when his mind refuses to, at first. But through times where he’s completely not listening, he finds himself managing to tune in occasionally. It’s… Nice, he thinks. He— no, that doesn’t sound right anymore, maybe… It? Yeah, something like that. It thinks it enjoys hearing nonsense rambles about nothing in particular. All of the sudden, it finds the willpower to hug Bees’ mask tighter. A small movement, but something.]

[…It thinks you said something about alcohol at one point. Now it just wants alcohol, and that becomes the main focus of its mind through the nothingness. It hasn’t had a drink in, like, a day! It thinks it needs a drink. Right now. But, still, it… Can’t move. But it’s getting there. It hopes you’ll stay, it’s easier to pull itself out of whatever this is while someone else is talking to it. While it has something else to focus on than… Everything else.]

[evil-off-brand-halloween-ghost]

*hm… something just changed. this presence feels a little bit different. more… aware, almost.*

if you’d like, we can go meet them one day. i think the cats would love you! your light feels warm, and all of the little rascals are heat leeches. if you’re lucky, the other animals might come out too! they’re more shy than the cats, though.

*they smile. it seems stressed, which makes sense, considering the… circumstances. some time with animals would probably do it some evil. snuggling with the forest creatures always helps them, at least!*

y’know, one time there was a horse in my forest. poor thing got spooked and ran into the woods, i guess. i had to guide it out through the fog. i mean, not that i would’ve been against it staying, but a dense forest isn’t really an evil place for a horse. not a lot of room to run around.

anyways, it found it’s rider and they both left safely.

*they never really got to go horseback riding much when they were alive. they travelled by foot pretty much all the time, to see the sights. they kind of regret not trying it when they still could.*

[shadow-but-bright]

[…It doesn’t know why you’re sticking around. Why would you? Ribbon is just pure evil, and not the fun and playful kind of evil that it’s more familiar with. Shouldn’t you be… Scared? Whatever. Putting yourself in danger by being around it is your decision, it supposes. It’s not like Ribbon will be back for a while anyway, he’s simply just not suited for dealing with— That. Everything. Stars, everything.]

[No, no, that’s its burden to bear the clearest memories of! And not the evil horrible bastard that deserves to be put in his place! That’s great!!]

[…]

[It must have tuned out what you were saying at some point, in favor for being suddenly hit with the giant swinging ball of a realisation that all of that was real. Stars, the hands on its body, the hands in its body, there were so many fingers trailing across its skin. It can still feel them. Every single crevice of its body was touched. It feels disgusting. It is disgusting. It wants to go back to the sweet bliss that was that feeling of nothingness, of time slipping by without a care, of not thinking. But it seems to be too late for that now.]

[Everything about itself is still distant, disconnected, even the way it starts to shake and grip the mask pressed against its chest until the edges of it dig into its skin and it starts to hurt. But it couldn’t care less about that, right now. Bright tears make its vision blurry. Something bad has happened.]

[Something bad has happened.]

[green-is-the-leader]

[It comes across a town on its frantic journey to find Ribbon. It's not there yet, it can tell. But this town seems like the perfect spot to find a weapon. Something tells Green it'll need it.]

[It recognizes the familiar shape of a forge at the edge of town. It's sure there will be plenty of weapons there.]

[It makes a beeline for the forge. A small shop is set up next to it, selling the weapons produced there. It doesn't even look for any shopkeeper. There's a sword on the wall that it can easily reach. The weight will be off, but whatever. It should be fine. As long as it has a weapon.]

[It grabs the blade of the sword, paying no mind to the sound of its metal palm scraping against the sword. It thinks it hears the shopkeeper say something, but it ignores them. Instead, it pulls the sword off the wall and takes off running. Stealing is easy when it's able to run fast.]

[Its run turns into following the pull of the light once again. And it's led deeper and deeper into the forest. Eventually, it finds itself coming into a clearing. In the clearing is a small, run down house.]

[Whoever lived here once doesn't live here now. But the pull of its light is stronger here. Something tells it this is the place.]

[It doesn't know what's been going on, but it will get Ribbon out.]

[No matter what.]

@shadow-but-bright

[shadow-but-bright]

[The light within your flesh seems calmer than it has been in a while, but theres also a certain empty quality to it that’s rather disturbing to feel when it’s not coming from yourself. You can’t even tell who it is right now, not without the churning and burning you feel when you’re with Ribbon, or the steady calmness when it’s Zomi instead. It’s all just… Empty.]

[Even still, it tries to beckon you closer. Like it needs you to save it all.]

[The door of the run down shack seems to be off of its hinges just enough for it not to be able to close, and so it hangs slightly ajar. You think you might be able to hear voices inside, if you listen close enough.]

[green-is-the-leader]

[It approaches slowly, silently. At the mouth of the door it stops to listen. It wants info. It needs to know what's happening to its love. Once it figures that out, it can decide what these people deserve.]

[It also attempts to look into the home. It would be nice to gauge how outnumbered it may be. Not like that matters. It will still jump in and save Ribbon, even if there were hundreds of people.]

[shadow-but-bright]

[Theres a small group of people sitting in what looks to be the main room, about three of them. It definitely also smells like some sort of drug is floating around in the air, along with the walls smelling heavily of cigarette smoke.]

[They’re all chatting about something, and from what you can gather, it’s about weed and sex. Nothing all that specific as far as you can tell, though.]

[green-is-the-leader]

[Three people? Probably drugged out of their minds, too. It can take them. It doesn't care if they did anything to Ribbon or not. Ribbon's here, and they deserve to pay for anything that might have happened to him.]

[It bursts into the house, immediately swinging its sword at the neck of one of the people there.]

[shadow-but-bright]

[None of them react in time, and the most that happens is one of them falling out of a rotting wooden chair and all three yelling in surprise.]

[You manage to slice into the strangers flesh with ease, especially since they had turned towards you out of surprise. They grasp at their bleeding throat almost desperately, red pouring from their mouth with a gross gargling sound. They won’t last that much longer, that’s obvious enough.]

[green-is-the-leader]

[It doesn't need to focus on that person anymore. They're as good as dead. It whips around to the one that fell out of the chair, thrusting its sword forward, and hopefully into their heart.]

[It doesn't care about being stealthy. It's going to kill everyone here, anyways. The empty light inside of it is telling enough. These people did something to Ribbon, and they'll pay for it.]

[shadow-but-bright]

[Theres a split second where your victim tries to scramble away, but is far too clumsy and far too slow to escape. They die within a few seconds.]

[The final one there yells out a name, along with some swear words before gunning it for the door clumsily, clearly panicked.]

[green-is-the-leader]

[It stands there for a moment, watching. That eery smile plastered on its face says enough. It doesn't care if you try to get help, you touched Ribbon in some way, and you don't deserve to live after that.]

[It follows behind this new victim, but much slower. It doesn't care if someone else gets warned and comes out to fight, too. It'll just kill everyone in its way.]

[shadow-but-bright]

[Right as the man gets to the door and tries to pry it open, though it drags against the wooden floor and wont quite open enough for him to get through. He continues to struggle for a few seconds before giving up, turning, and raising his fists in preparation to fight.]

[green-is-the-leader]

[By that point, it's already caught up with him. It actually just stands and watches him struggle, completely unimpressed by the effort. This man must know that he's going to die anyways.]

[A slash of its sword drives the weapon into the man's side. He should've thought about the fact that raising his fists left his sides vulnerable. Man, these people are very incompetent fighters. And having no weapons to fight back with? It wonders why they didn't anticipate someone coming to save Ribbon.]

[Not like it matters. They're all dying today anyways.]

[shadow-but-bright]

[He obviously didn’t see that coming, from the way that the stranger screams and barely even tries to block the hit. His eyes are red, probably from the drugs, and it takes a second for the man to come to a decision.]

[After that, though, he starts to ignore the pain and lunges straight towards you in preparation to tackle you to the ground. A simple, last ditch effort, really.]

[green-is-the-leader]

[It didn't expect this man to fight back. It had expected him to cower and run. He successfully tackles it to the ground with the horrible crunch of porcelain. It winces. Ribbon won't be happy about that.]

[Despite clearly being hurt by this, it doesn't falter, and its hands immediately wrap around this man's throat. If the sword doesn't kill, then its bare hands will.]

[shadow-but-bright]

[Immediately, his own hands go up to try and pry your fingers off of him. The strangers red eyes widen in complete panic, and he tries to pull away from you.]

[Though, the loss of blood from the injury in his side seems to be affecting how effective the struggling is. This person doesn’t seem that strong at all.]

[green-is-the-leader]

[Using the weight of its body, it attempts to swing around and pin this man to the ground instead. It needs more momentum to choke him harder. It needs him to suffocate right now. The longer this takes, the more Ribbon might be suffering.]

[It can't have that.]

[shadow-but-bright]

[With a bit of effort, you succeed, and push him up from on top of you until he’s the one on his back. For a second, the struggling gets stronger out of panic, but you can tell it won’t last for long. He’s getting weaker.]

[green-is-the-leader]

[It doesn't lighten its grip. Of course it doesn't! This man doesn't deserve any sort of mercy. Green doesn't care if this person is involved in anything or not. He still deserves to die. Anyone it finds in this house will be dying today.]

[Its grip is as tight as it can possibly make it.]

[shadow-but-bright]

[Slowly, the man ceases to move, and goes limp in your grasp. Its quiet long enough that you can catch the slightest creak of a door, and then the sound of something locking.]

[At least you can tell what direction it came from.]

[green-is-the-leader]

[It pulls away slowly, grabs its discarded sword, and stabs the man in the heart, just in case. It then turns its attention to the newly locked door. It's not stupid.]

[It wonders if...]

[It approaches the door, then stabs its sword through the wood. It's pleasantly surprised at how smoothly its sword sinks into the wood. Well, this house is rather dilapidated. The wood must be rotting.]

[shadow-but-bright]

[You don’t hear anything from inside the room, but it can’t be anywhere else. Not after hearing that.]

[At the very least, the door is incredibly easy to break down.]

[green-is-the-leader]

[Well, it can just kick this door down, or break the doornob. This door is so old that anything it does will probably break it completely.]

[It pulls its sword out of the door and begins to kick the door as hard as it can. Rip it off the hinges.]

[shadow-but-bright]

[After only a couple kicks, the door breaks down into a pile of wood on the floor, and the first thing you see is a person half naked and another wearing a hoodie and sweatpants with the hood up trying to work their way out of a broken window without getting cut.]

[They both turn around to face you, and once seeing the blood covering you nearly head to toe, they both just try to scramble out faster.]

[green-is-the-leader]

[Oh, no. It's not letting these people get away. Especially not when at least one of them is clearly a perpetrator. And the other is guilty by association. They're not getting out of this. It ignores the familiarity of the half naked guy. At least for the moment. Its attention is focused on the hooded person.]

[It rushes forward, aiming its sword towards the hooded person's heart. It's not going to get creative with killing right now. It's just focused on making sure these people die.]

[shadow-but-bright]

[You manage to stab right where you wanted to, and after only a few seconds, the guy in the hoodie stops moving with his face buried in spikes of glass. You hear the guy beside you yell a swear, and stumble back from you.]

[green-is-the-leader]

[One left.]

[It rips its sword out of the man's back, and turns to face this final person.]

[It recognizes this guy. It vividly remembers being beaten to a pulp. Being screamed at. Being violently violated. A knife shoved up there. Blood all over the place. Its own blood.]

[It falters.]

[shadow-but-bright]

[That falter is enough for the familiar stranger to take the chance and bolt for the broken down door, as fast as he can. The rotting and disjointed wood trips him up a few times, but he is surprisingly competent at running away.]

[shadow-but-bright]

*generally, people feel them before seeing them. there’s a cool chill in the air, and the faint presence of something watching. that presence normally feels comforting, and while it isn’t malicious right now, something about it feels wrong.*

*something smells like vanilla. there’s a hint of lemon in there too.*

*finally, they show themselves. they look different from before (is that blood on their claws…?) but it’s still recognizably them. they’re holding a plate of evil cookies.*

…ribbon? bee? um, mystery person from before?

*something about him (it?) doesn’t feel quite right. sure, they weren’t expecting the cheerful ribbon that loved to knit, but still. this feels much too close to faer for them.*

…do you still remember me…?

@evil-off-brand-halloween-ghost

[…He looks smaller than usual, and he’s wearing something different than you remember him wearing, too; his regular clothes are replaced with what looks like a simple nightgown. Though the most striking part of his current appearance is what he’s holding, and his eyes, which look… Distant, and devoid of life to the point they look like a bright cyan void with nothing behind them.]

[In his arms, he holds a mask. A familiar mask that once was full of life, but now, it’s as empty as his eyes and has a large crack through it. One of the masks eyes is completely broken off.]

[There would be another person here, if he hadn’t sent him off so he could just… Be, for a while. Pretend to not exist. And he’s been doing so well at pretending to not exist, that he doesn’t even respond to you, or looks like he recognizes that you’re there at all.]

[evil-off-brand-halloween-ghost]

*they hesitate for only a second, before floating closer. whoever this is, they’re still ghosty’s friend.*

*they won’t let another friend suffer in silence.*

*carefully, they set down the plate of evil cookies next to him. it smells of lemon and vanilla, along with the signature smell of salt.*

*they look carefully at the mask. empty.*

*they know how that feels, to be clinging to a hollow memory of someone.*

*while they don’t touch him, they do float right in front of him and give a small wave, trying to gently get his attention.*

hello…? it’s okay, you don’t have to respond, just… look at me? please?

i promise i mean no harm. i wouldn’t hurt a fly, really, you don’t have to be worried! *the lie tastes bitter on the tip of their tongue.*

[shadow-but-bright]

[Still, there isn’t anything from him. No movement, not even any breathing whatsoever. Though, when you talk, it’s almost like his eyes gain a slight more amount of life to them for a second. Otherwise, though, stillness.]

[He knows you’re there—though, he doesn’t even know if he’s, well, him right now, but using those pronouns seems as fitting as he can get currently—but it’s like his body won’t respond to him. He doesn’t even really feel like forcing himself, but having another presence here is… Nice. Especially besides Green. It was just so easy to give into the call of nothingness, and let himself fall away, especially after…. After.. He stops thinking again. Later.]

[He forgets you’re there, after a few seconds, and focuses as much as he can on the presences of the broken mask in his arms.]

[evil-off-brand-halloween-ghost]

*talking seems to be doing… something. they should probably keep doing that then.*

*that’s alright. they can ramble! they’re evil at that.*

y’know it’s really hard to get alcohol as a ghost. no ghost has it, since we can’t really eat or drink, and the living tend to panic if you try to buy any. and i don’t know the first thing about making it! i had to steal the vanilla extract from the store! i still paid, though.

*they may have had to… borrow some rupees from a pompous duke (look, they don’t need to buy things often! they don’t have a lot of rupees!) but that’s aside the point.*

*the man deserved it, anyways.*

oh, and one of the cats in my forest had kittens! i helped as much as i could, and she’s a proud mother of four now. the little ones are so cute, they’re about two weeks old now!

but evil hylia, this one little guy— spawn of demise, i swear. everyone loves him, but he’s a menace.

*just like them. they’re so proud of their grandson.*

[shadow-but-bright]

[He listens, somewhat. It’s hard to focus on your voice when his mind refuses to, at first. But through times where he’s completely not listening, he finds himself managing to tune in occasionally. It’s… Nice, he thinks. He— no, that doesn’t sound right anymore, maybe… It? Yeah, something like that. It thinks it enjoys hearing nonsense rambles about nothing in particular. All of the sudden, it finds the willpower to hug Bees’ mask tighter. A small movement, but something.]

[…It thinks you said something about alcohol at one point. Now it just wants alcohol, and that becomes the main focus of its mind through the nothingness. It hasn’t had a drink in, like, a day! It thinks it needs a drink. Right now. But, still, it… Can’t move. But it’s getting there. It hopes you’ll stay, it’s easier to pull itself out of whatever this is while someone else is talking to it. While it has something else to focus on than… Everything else.]