I hear the hollow music ring through the once bustling halls.
I feel no joy, there is no clattering in the kitchen, no children playing, no gifts under the small sad tree.
The colourful lights I thought once so luminous have lost their luster, now dull and faded.
I decorate as we did every year, the fancy sparkling ordainments that once held meaning, the lonely star on top the tree, now reminders of a time long past.
The small meal of gravy, turkey and potatoes are tasteless without the chatter of dinner time pleasantries, the hot coco at the fire place chalky without the laughter of children and adults, I wait.
I look outside my cabin, the snow falling slowly under the cold gleaming light of the moon, the pine trees stand in silent mourning, waiting listening.
A shiver runs down my spine and I know it’s here.
Out the window I can make out the antlered figure against the shadows of the trees, watching.
@strangezeroz welcome to tumblr where the app decides when you can be gifted with the sight of og memes, you cannot look for these yourself via the search engine, you won’t find them, you have to wait to be gifted them
For those of you who might be new here, Tumblr has no algorithm, legendary memes are brought to your dash by mutuals like pet cats bringing you dead birds.
Echo is a regular human in a cyberpunk esque world suffocated by pollution and greed. Perhaps once, thousands of years ago, the world was filled with magic and life.
This story is about coming of age, self discovery, and self acceptance.
TW/ Uncontrolled changes to the body, censored swearing, vague implied abuse
Word count: 2.8k
Echo rushes down the street as holo ads and signs blink their blinding lights above her. The occasional car drives by, splashing her with the slightly acidic rainwater that makes her skin tingle. The silence of the city is deafening, drones whizzing by, advertisements playing out of speakers both near and far, and the occasional plane flying over the city. Saro city is home to a very important large airport, one she has the displeasure of working at. She is going to be late again however, and this time she won’t be able to make an excuse to her boss. Echo can practically hear her boss shouting that she’s fired and see her mom’s disappointed face when she tells her she lost her first real job.
It’s only been Echo and her mom ever since her father left. Echo wasn’t even born when he left, and Mom was always very cagey about any details with Echo’s father. Echo always had the feeling that her father wasn’t a very good person to Mom. Ever since she came to that conclusion, Echo has always tried to support her mother however she can, whether it be doing chores around the house, working to make a little extra credit, or working hard in school, and now she’s going to blow it all because of that stupid nightmare.
Snapping out of her daydreaming, she turns down into the subway stairwell, skipping every other step. She can hear the train pulling up. Hopefully someone else is there to stop it, but knowing her luck and considering it’s 4am no one will be there. Just as she reaches the platform, Echo watches as the doors start to close.
“No- no no!” She shouts, breaking out in a sprint. Indeed no one is on the platform, no one is even on the train. Just as she reaches the doors they shiiiik shut, making her bounce off of them in a tremendous crash.
“S#!%” Echo swears as the train pulls away. She feels like her whole body is tingling from the crash.
She coughs a little as she stands up, not minding the tingling, it’s common to feel tingling from any amount of pollutants or chemicals on the ground or in the rain.
“… f@!%” she swears again, growing hot with anger. That stupid dream! That stupid stupid-
Buzz buzz buzz buzz-
Her H-phone starts rhythmically buzzing, snapping her out of her rage. But she is still feeling hot and tingly, it should’ve worn off by now-
All thoughts stop as she stares at her impossibly bright holo screen, a strange symbol is burned into it, distorting the picture of her and Mom into a glitchy mess. Before Echo can comprehend what she’s seeing, her H-phone becomes scalding hot. She yelps in pain and drops her phone into a puddle on the platform, where the water starts hissing. It boils and steam rises into the air, the lights and holo ads on the platform flickering like they are overcharged and the tripper is about to break.
“What the hell!?” Echo exclaims, eyes scanning the room before they are drawn back to look at the steam.
She gasps, stumbling back as she sees two slitted golden-yellow eyes staring back at her through the steam- or in the steam? The more she looks the more confused she becomes, it looks like a hologram but much too detailed, flickering with the chaotic lights in the subway station implying that these lights are making this illusion. It has to be an illusion. Or a hallucination. There is no other explanation. Maybe the rain had something else in it; it’s not unheard of to get high from chemicals in the rain-
The tingling in Echo’s body intensifies, to the point where it feels like lightning is coursing through her veins. She grabs onto a nearby pillar to steady herself and sparks immediately race from her hands, running up and down the pillar. All the while the eerie glowing eyes watch. Her hand feels glued to the pillar, the energy coursing through her and into the pillar is freezing her body into place. She screams, partially from terror (am I going to die?) and partially from the shear, overwhelming power flooding her senses. Lights explode, circuitry sparks, and-
All at once, everything stops, the lightning in her veins, the flickering lights, and the glowing eyes all disappear. Echo’s legs collapses from underneath her, exhaustion taking the place of the power within moments before. The subway is completely dark now, but Echo can barely register that. The tile is cool and wet beneath her, soothing her still feverish skin. She can hear her H-phone still hissing in the puddle, the sound starting to simmer down as the phone itself cools.
With monumental effort, Echo drags her hands up to her shoulders and pushes herself off of the blissfully cool tiles. It’s not safe to remain in one place too long, especially in this district.
She looks around the pitch black room, spotting her phone in the half-evaporated puddle. She picks it up, feeling that it’s still warm. Limping towards the escalator, she decides that whatever the f%#! just happened, Echo isn’t staying around to experience that again. At least she is alive, that’s all that matters. She couldn’t imagine having to make her mom file a missing person’s report, having to identify her corpse. Echo promised herself she would never make her mother go through that, not ever.
As Echo gets to the top of the escalator and looks up, she is momentarily blinded by the lights.
Is the sun up already!?
A few quick blinks and rubbing her eyes later, her vision goes back to normal. The lights are the correct brightness and the sky is as smoggy and gloomy as ever, if not completely black. Echo is now supremely freaked out, what the f&#@ is happening to me. She breaks out into a limping sprint, turning down the first back alley she can.
The alley is relatively secluded, at least drones aren’t constantly buzzing overhead, and Echo can take a breather. Did she… did she just have nightvision? She never has gotten any body mods other than removable ones for cosplay, nor has she ever woken up in an alley with her organs missing, so what the *hell* was that? Is she still hallucinating? No, that was too real, maybe she’s sick? *Yeah sick, let’s go with that.*
She shakily exhales, not just because she’s scare s#!%less. Echo is feeling ill, she has a fever and her body feels weak.
I need to get home, call in sick. Maybe I won’t lose my job, I should have at least one sick day she thinks with uncharacteristic optimism. Stumbling her way out of the alley, she makes the long trek back home, not bothering to take the bus.
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
By the time Echo gets home, she is near delirious from the exhausting heat. The sun isn’t up yet but the early risers are; cars and hover cars fill the roads and skyways, a few people are walking on the streets, and some apartments have lights on.
Echo is barely aware of this however, she is on complete auto pilot. She climbs the stoop to her apartment and fumbles with the doorknob. Once she’s inside she walks past the very concerned looking doorman and up to the elevator. She punches in her floor number, 22, and grabs onto the railing like it’s a lifeline.
Echo might have blacked out because the next thing she knows the elevator doors are opening and she’s stumbling out and down the hallway. She eventually staggers into her house, through the kitchen, and flops into her bed.
She is out before her head touches the pillow.
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
“Ko-ko? Sweetheart are you alright?” Kori, Echo’s mother, asks from the doorway. It’s about midday now, Kori is a late sleeper due to her late night shifts.
Echo groans as they wake up. She rolls over, skin slick with sweat. She leaves a wet spot on the bed where her forehead was pressed into the pillow.
“Oh sweetheart! You’re burning up! Do you want me to call into your work?”
Echo wants to protest, they should do it themselves, but they feel so awful that they just nod weakly.
“Aright, you wait there I’ll make some soup.” Kori rushes off, starting to make some soup as they talk to their home assistant and place a call with Echo’s boss. Echo barely pays attention as they start burrowing into her bedsheets.
Her body feels both hot and cold in alternating patches all over her body. Her muscles are sore, her stomach is in knots, and her brain is sluggish. She tries to think over what happened at the subway but exhaustion drags her mind to a halt.
At some point she must have fallen asleep because next thing she knows a bowl of soup is sitting on the bedside table. Echo is feeling much better, her fever has died down significantly, and she isn’t feeling sick to her stomach anymore. With a start she realizes that the sun is well on its way to setting. How long did she sleep for? She must have gotten over the weakness that overtook her a few hours ago because when she pushes herself up she barely uses any strength. Odd she thinks, but the scent of the special ’organic’ chicken soup wafts through the air making her stomach growl loudly.
Echo obliges her suddenly ferocious hunger, sliding out of bed. She snatches the bowl and quickly drinking the soup directly from it. The soup leaves her completely unsatisfied. She leaves her room and hurries into the kitchen. She puts the bowl and unused spoon into the sink before hungrily opening the fridge. Everything looks tasty. In a hunger induced trance, she pulls out all the deli meats, the pickle jar, the milk, several nutri-bars, a synthetic apple, and a bottle of branded electrolyte water. Arms full, she waddles over to the kitchen table and dumps all the food on it. She runs over to the counter and grabs bread and condiments, stomach growling in anticipation. Going back to the table she hastily assembles a sandwich. Before she can make another the hunger overtakes her and she eats it. Then the nutri-bars, then just the plain deli meats, and the apple, then half of the loaf of bread which makes her thirsty, so she guzzles down the electrolyte water.
Leaning back in the chair finally feeling satisfied, she sighs contentedly.
Then it dawns on her what she just did.
Echo jolts up in her chair and stares in abject horror at the mess she made. Crumbs are everywhere, there are spills of condiments and electrolyte water on the floor and table, the pickle jar is empty (did she drink the pickle brine?!) and there is no sign of the apple other than the seeds.
What. The f@#%. Is happening to me?
Echo can only thank her lucky stars that Mom is working, she has no idea how to explain the rampage she just went on. Not wanting the condiments to dry, she starts hurriedly wiping the spills up with a dishcloth, not bothering to activate the crappy robo-floor cleaner.
As she cleans, Echo is frantically trying to think of some logical explanation as to why they just ate half the food in the fridge. Did she skip breakfast? No, has she been stressed? Well yes but not stressed enough to do this.
She reaches over to scratch her cheek.
Maybe it’s hormones? It could very well be, her period is-
What the f&$#.
She lightly touches her cheek again in disbelief.
That’s not skin she thinks, starting to panic. Where her skin should be, something hard and smooth like glass is on her face.
What the f@%# what the f*%$ what the f%$# she abandons the cleaning cloth and half scrubbed floor and runs to the bathroom. Skidding to a stop in front of the mirror, she gets a glimpse of the hard, iridescent, interlocking *things* on her face before shooting skull pain drops her on the cold tile floor. Once again her skin grows hot, almost scaldingly so. She bites back a scream of agony. Echo clutches her head as her skull starts moving, making way for two bony protrusions that pokes holes in her scalp. Somehow, she manages to stay quiet, she doesn’t want anyone checking on her although she doesn’t think those exact thoughts due to the pain. She *feels* the protrusions branching out like a tree, not having to touch them to feel it. Her thoughts scream for this to stop and shockingly, her body listens. As the things on her head finishes forming, she can feel prickling down near their collarbone. She shakily lower her hand from her head as the pain fades and touches her collarbone, feeling more of the smooth bumps that’s replacing her skin. She still feels feverishly hot and the cold tile floor giving her some relief, but she needs to stand up, just to see what the *hell* has happened to her. Before she could think herself out of it, she grabs the sink and heaves herself up. Her eyes are having trouble focusing on the mirror, all she sees for a few moments is a blurry turquoise shape coming out of her neon teal hair. The blob that is her face is entirely the wrong colour, being a pale iridescent green-blue. Fear rises, she can’t make sense of what is happening.
Echo gasps as her eyes suddenly figure out how to focus, she can’t believe what she is seeing. Two turquoise horns that resemble tree branches are coming out of her skull, and light greenish-blue scales with a rainbow-iridescent shine to them are covering her face and most of her neck. Her eyes have slitted pupils and her irises are a luminescent blue that is what the clear sky looked like in old times. It would be beautiful, if it wasn’t attached to her face.
“F-f$&%” she whispers, panic rising through the shock. Her teeth start aching- this can’t be real, it must be a dream- and the prickling feeling on her skin comes back. She sees her teeth growing sharper and more animal-like.
“No! No no, stop-“ her jaw is aching- but as soon as she says that the changes once again stop.
Her mouth is still sore but it’s not painfully moving anymore, she rubs it trying to sooth the pain.
“Alright, I’m glitching out, it stops when I ask it to” she chortles with disbelief.
“Now how do I hide this before Mom sees…” she starts pacing, the prickling starting up again. She once again tells the prickling to stop and it does. Why does that work?!
“Just stop, stop for good, please.”
Maybe I just need to ask it to go away the ridiculous thought crosses Echo’s mind. It’s insane, but this whole situation is insane, maybe the idea insane enough to work. If anything, it’s worth a shot.
“Uh, could this all… go away?” She says out loud to the air.
Nothing happens.
*Maybe I wasn’t specific enough?*
She tries again “make the horns and s-scales and uh, all the other stuff go back to normal.” Even though she chokes on the words, she believes she sounds more assertive.
There is a sharp sting all over her face and head and wherever the scales covered, making Echo wince and instinctively close her eyes.
Did it work? Echo keeps her eyes shut but slowly and hesitantly reaches up to her face.
The scales are gone.
Her hands dart to the back of her head and it feels normal, smooth as always.
“Oh thank f&%@.” Echo leans to the back wall of the bathroom and slides down it. Was that all a dream? No, it was too real, not like the crazy nightmares she’s been having of late. Yet those nightmares seem too real as well, but usually she would wake up if she realizes this is a dream, and she hasn’t yet. She pinches herself just to be sure.
Ouch, no dice. She opens her eyes with quite a bit of effort and stares at her fingers. She remembers the subway station, how it felt like the entire electric grid was running through her at once. As she imagines the sparks and the sensation, little sparkles of light dance from her tingling fingertips.
Echo quickly grips a towel, holding onto anything to give her comfort. The tingling goes away almost instantly.
What in the holy f&$@ has happened to me?
She slowly stands up, weak and shaky from her experience. She needs rest, but what if it happens again while she sleeps? What reptilian creature would they wake up as? Echo can’t risk it, and goes to her room to do what she always does when she doesn’t want to sleep.
She calls her friends, Ruby and Zack. They’ll know what to do, or at the very least they can comfort her. Either way, this is going to be one hell of a story.
Hello! Sorry that I’ve been radio silent, life has been insanely hectic for me recently.
My motivation for the story has completely disappeared, although @thatonexman and I still have a lot planned out. I don’t want to leave this story dead in the water however, so to get my motivation back I thought I’d do a author QnA!
Please ask any questions in the comments or ask me section of this blog and I’ll respond as soon as I see them!
Feel free to ask about characters backstories, their personalities, anything really! If the answer will reveal spoilers I’ll try to dodge around it as best as I can.
If you haven’t seen the story, here is Part 1!
Once again thank you everyone for your support with this series, it really means so much to me.
NOTICE: As more and more fanfic writers are using generative AI for their works (you uncreative dweebs), I hereby swear on everything I hold dear that I have not and will NEVER use generative AI in ANY of my written work. Everything I post will be organically and creatively my own.
i second this !!! i will never in my life use genAI in my work, not even for editing or proofreading. fuck AI, and while we’re on the record, if i make something bad it will be from 8 litres of caffeine and a 4am spiral.
There are fic writers who look at a villain and think, What if they just needed a hug and a therapist? And suddenly, the villain is saving the world and having deep philosophical conversations.
Stuck in a white box purgatory after his defeat by TSC, Dark sulks. He is the greatest, strongest, and most intelligent stick in the entire universe! And he is stuck here in this… well he isn’t quite sure where but he knows it cannot contain him forever, it’s just taking longer for him to escape without his powers.
One day (if you can even call it day) a glowing orb comes to him with an offer, an offer to get him out on one condition. Dark gladly takes the offer since he will be able to outsmart this being. After all, he is the most intelligent stick in the universe.
Here is the beginning for anyone new: Part 1
Job
Dark walks into the sleepy burger place, the bell tinkles overhead as the door swings closed. There is one stick eating a burger while looking at his rocket phone. Behind the register stands a bored looking deep-violet stick. He jumps when Dark walks towards him.
“Hello and welcome to Wally’s Burger and Fries, what can I get for you today?” He greets Dark automatically.
The orb is floating around the stick's head. He doesn’t notice it at all so Dark decides not to acknowledge it either.
“I’m here for the job” Dark proclaims confidently. This job will be easy, there are barely any customers.
“Ah, are you the new hire? The manager is in the back.” He points over his shoulder at the employees only door.
Dark smirks and walks around the counter and through the little swinging gate. He strides through the employee’s only door and into the back. Technically he’s not officially employed yet, so *technically* this counts as an illegal act, right? PLEASE let it be illegal, Dark will take anything at this point.
The orb zips into the back and explores the kitchen while Dark looks around for the manager. After scanning the room he spots an older looking brownish stick standing at the sink washing dishes. He approaches them and clears his throat.
“Hey buddy, where’s the manager?” Dark asks, intentionally being rude.
The old man stops his chores to look up at Dark and chuckles. On closer inspection he’s not *that* old, maybe mid to late thirties, but to Dark he is ancient.
“Hello. Dark was it? Nice to meet you. My name is Wally” He takes off his rubber gloves and takes Darks hand, shaking it.
Dark snatches his hand away. How dare this old kook take The Dark Lord's hand-!
The brown stick speaks again. “I’m the manager here, welcome to Wally’s Burgers and Fries.”
*Oh.* Dark forces himself to calm down, he can’t blow up at his new boss.
“I heard this was your first job in the city, is that true?”
“It is” Dark responds curtly.
The man smiles kindly. “In that case I will show you the ropes.”
The kindness of this stick figure makes Dark want to barf. Of course *this* had to be the manager, the kind with the ‘infectious positivity.’ Ick. The orb must be shaking with laughter.
He must have made a face because the manager lets out a little chuckle.
“Don’t worry Dark, this is standard procedure. I’m not going to baby you.”
*Oh, you better not baby The Dark Lord* the desaturated dark blue stick thinks to himself. He would have loved to say it out loud, but he can’t blow his cover. Not yet at least. He needs to get his powers back first, then he can be as rude as he wants.
The manager gives him a uniform— A black apron and a hat— and beckons Dark to follow him. “Alright Dark, come with me please.” The old man walks out to the front, Dark following along while tying up the apron.
The brown figure stops in front of the counter and gestures to the machine on top of it. “Here is the register, this is where we take orders from customers. You will greet them by saying ‘welcome to Wally’s Burger and Fries, what can I get for you today?’ and then enter in whatever they order into the register like this,” he shows him how to enter in an order.
“Remember to be polite and cordial, we don’t want to scare away customers.”
*Fat chance* Dark thinks, nodding and pretending to agree. The orb lazily twirls around his head, and he reminds himself that being nice is a necessity to keep this job. He will have to bear being *polite* for at least a few days. He will figure out a loophole eventually though.
The manager leads Dark back into the kitchen, where three other sticks are lounging around, waiting for customers.
The manager starts explaining the equipment as he passes each one. “Here is the grill, and the deep fryer, and the milkshake machine. You *must* use gloves in this area or whenever you are handling food, it is required by food safety regulations.”
*I will do what I want* Dark responds in his head.
The brownish man continues to explain each workstation, how to use each one, what each order means, and how to assemble them. Dark only got distracted a single time with thoughts about how he could tamper with the equipment.
Once the manager finishes explaining everything, he turns to Dark. “Any questions?”
Dark, being the intelligent and quite frankly genius stick that he is, was easily able to comprehend all of the brownish sticks instructions. The process sounded similar to assembling a robot, but with food instead of grease and gears. Not nearly as complicated. Or fun.
“Yeah yeah, I got it” he answers dismissively. The manager raises an eyebrow in doubt but doesn’t comment. “In that case, your shift officially starts now. Which task would you like to try first?”
“I get to choose?”
The manager nods. “You will get paid the same no matter what task you choose, so you are free to do any that takes your fancy. I will be checking up on you every 10 minutes or so.”
*Oh this is perfect* Dark thinks. *I can choose the easiest job and get paid for doing less work. It’s like free money!*
“I will take the cashier job.” That seems like the easiest task, just entering people's orders into the machine, rinse and repeat. The only downside is that he has to be polite, ugh. At the very least, being nice might convince the orb to give him some of his powers back.
The manager nods again and walks up to the deep-violet stick manning the register and tells him something Dark can’t quite make out. The younger stick raises an eyebrow at Dark but nods to the manager respectfully and goes to the back. *Probably to clean dishes* Dark internally sneers. He steps up to the register confidently and leans against the countertop. Afterwards, the manager shows him in more detail how to operate the digital register and what buttons to press. It is all simple enough for Dark so the manager leaves him to it, patting him on the shoulder (disgusting) and joining the deep-violet stick in the back.
Dark smiles, exuding confidence. This will be a piece of cake! Now he just has to wait for customers to show up and take their orders.
…
Just got to wait for the customers…
…
…
Just gotta wait…
…
…
…
Any minute now…
…
…
…
Is this it?
Darks expression darkens.
He looks around, getting a bit antsy from not even a minute of standing there doing nothing. The cashier task is just standing around waiting? He should be doing something, anything. Maybe he can fiddle with the register, take it apart and see how it works… he can probably modify it to run some simple video game software, maybe even steal-
His train of thought is interrupted by the tinkling of the door bell. A mother and her child have just entered the burger place, the little girl bouncing with excitement. From behind, Dark hears the door to the kitchen open and close. In his peripheral vision he can see the brown hue of his manager standing behind himself. He has an audience now; time to show off how good he is at being polite.
“Greetings and welcome to Wally’s Burger and Fries, what can I get for you this fine midday?” Dark asks theatrically, throwing his arms up at the menu above him.
The mother stares at Dark, a bit put off by his sudden performance, but her attention is pulled away by the child excitedly pulling on her arm.
“MAMA! Can I get a BIG burger? And BIG fries? And MILKSHAKE-!“
“Hush sweety, inside voices remember?” the mother reminds the girl sweetly.
The child stares up at their mother, eyes wide as she completely forgot about that rule. “Mama, can I get a big burger and big fries?” She tries again in a far more hushed tone. The mother nods as the little girl looks up at Dark with glimmering eyes, excited for her meal.
Yuck, children. They look cute and innocent but they are a complete mess and cause way too much trouble. How anyone can stand them is a complete mystery to Dark, and this one has the attention span of a goldfish. Oh joy.
“Sir?” The mother says to Dark, interrupting his thoughts. That seems to be happening an awful lot recently. Does no one have respect for The Dark Lord's time?
Dark forces himself to focus back on reality and pulls his face into a toothy smile.
“What would you like to order m-ma’am” Dark chokes on the politeness of ‘ma’am,’ although it could be mistaken for a nervous stutter.
“I’m sorry ma’am,” the manager interjects, walking up to Dark and putting a hand on his shoulder! *The audacity!*
“This is his first day on the job, and his first time at the register.”
Dark nearly shoots a glare at his boss before stopping himself, remembering that the man can fire him at any moment. He opts for a small, frustrated sigh instead. The manager smiles and nods in what should be an encouraging manner, but it only gets on Dark’s nerves more.
“Err… What would you like today ma’am?” He makes sure to enunciate ma’am so that the manager won’t jump in again. He can do this on his own, why does the manager think he needs to be coddled? And how dare he put a hand on him, Dark will make him pay for that. One day.
“Actually my daughter was going to try to order today, weren’t you honey?” The mother says. The little girl lights up with excitement and starts bouncing in place in a way *less intelligent* sticks would call adorable.
*Oh great, the goldfish is ordering* Dark thinks to himself. The thought doesn’t lighten his mood. It’s shocking, really.
The kid bounces up to the edge of the counter. “Can I have a burger?” She immediately asks.
Dark begrudgingly clicks the burger option and several different burgers show up.
Dark leans over the counter and scowls down at the child. “What type of burger, kid” he asks, grumpy that he has to listen to the orders of a *child.*
He can feel his boss glaring at his back but ignores it.
“Um…”’the kid’s bouncing slows to a stop as she stares up at Dark, looking intimated. She glances at her mother, who is staring at Dark with an annoyed and rather confused expression.
Dark rolls his eyes. “You get a cheese burger with ketchup, because that’s what kids always have.” Dark was just about to start punching in the order when his boss grabs Dark by the arm to stop him. Dark spins on the brownish stick and nearly clocks him on the head, barely resisting the urge to put him in his place.
Seeing the anger in Dark’s face, the manager turns to the mother. “Sorry ma’am, can you excuse us for a moment?”
The manager forces a smile then shouts for one of the other employees to take the register. As a green-yellow figure takes the post, the boss quickly drags Dark into the back. The second they are out of sight of the rest of the restaurant the manager turns to Dark with a frustrated and bewildered expression.
“What are you doing?!” He exclaims in a hushed tone. “I told you to be polite and that was the *opposite* of polite! Were you *trying* to be rude? Audibly sighing, rolling your eyes and speaking in that tone, especially at *children,* will turn customers away!” The manager is getting increasingly flustered with anger.
“Hey, I did my job didn’t I?” Dark retorts, trying to remain aloof. “I was getting their orders in, plus I was bored.”
“No! That’s not- Urgh…” the man groans and buries his face in the palms of his hands. He seems pretty upset but for the most part is trying to maintain his composure. After Dark’s boss takes a few deep breaths, he stands up tall and forces a smile. “I understand this is your first job Dark, so I’m not going to reprimand you in any non-verbal way. Now we know you aren’t fit for the register so let’s put you on dish duty for the rest of your shift, alright? That doesn’t require any social interaction, you aren’t very good at that- no offence.” He places a hand on Dark’s shoulder as the dark blue-and-black stick is left speechless. “Go wash some dishes” he says, then the manager leaves to presumably apologize to the mother.
The dark-blue-black stick is left standing in the kitchen, frozen in shock. The great and powerful Dark Lord just got sent to clean dishes. Like an idiot.
Dark’s blood begins to boil once more. He stomps off to the massive industrial sink and glowers at the mound of dirty dishes, trays, and silverware. All of them are filthy and need to be scrubbed clean. Dark’s fists tremble as he resists the urge to throw all of the dishes onto the ground. Maybe some of them would break or dent satisfyingly, but frustratingly he can’t do that because that would certainly get him fired. He can’t risk any more after *doing his job.*
Dark growls to vent some of his anger, grabbing the sponge inside of the sink and starts to aggressively scrub a burnt pan aggressively. He forgets the rubber gloves but doesn’t care, lost in his angry thoughts.
*Stupid children, stupid boss, stupid job… I deserve better than this, I’m the Dark Lord! King of evil, bringer of doom and destruction! I shouldn’t be cleaning dishes, I should be demanding respect and instilling terror on this city, not cleaning plates for lowly peasants!*
At this point all the baked on gunk has been completely scrubbed off, but Dark doesn’t notice and continues scrubbing, his angry thoughts blinding him to everything else.
“Stupid job, stupid orb-“ he unknowingly mutters out loud.
“Um, Dark?” Someone grabs his shoulder and Dark reflexively swings his fist at them-
But once again it is met with the wall of the white box instead.
“CURSES-!” Dark almost swears, feeling slightly dizzy from switching back into his old (and better) body. How can that blasted ball of light act so quickly?!
“Tisk tisk tisk. Didn’t I tell you no harming others?” The orb says with exaggerated disappointment.
Dark whirls on the orb and fixes it with a glare. “THAT WAS AN ACCIDENT! It’s my #%@$ reflex!”
“It’s still baaad!” The orb sings with a playful giggle. “And no swearing silly stick!”
“ARRRG” Dark lets out a frustrated, furious roar and punches the wall of the box again. The more he puts up with this situation the more infuriating and humiliating it gets! His sickly sweet boss, (was Wally his name?), a job he is severely overqualified for— *and* never asked for by the way— the stupid deal with the orb, the terrible apartment, and he doesn’t even have a computer!
Every fibre in Darks being is telling him to keep punching the wall but he knows he will only damage his fist that way. Instead, he decided to let out his anger by stomping around the room, shoving all his anger and rage into the floor with each step.
“Whatcha doin?” The orb asks in the most obnoxious way possible, reigniting his anger.
“I’m *trying* to calm down, which isn’t easy with the brightest, most annoying bird chirping in my ear every 10 seconds” Dark says through gritted teeth.
“Well, you aren’t doing a very good job of-“
“SHUT UP OR ELSE I WILL HURL YOU THROUGH A WALL!”
“But-“
“ZIP IT. I DON’T WANT TO HEAR IT.” Dark hisses.
The orb does as it is told and Dark goes back to stomping and pacing and occasionally shouting into the void. After several minutes of silence occasionally broken by Darks yelling, it does begin to help as Dark’s anger starts to subside. Eventually he is only panting as the exertion finally gets to him.
After a few moments of breathing, Dark closes his eyes and goes over the situation in his head again. It's just been getting worse and worse and *worse,* making Dark seem like a complete joke. Frankly at this point it would have been more dignified to stay dead.
...Well maybe not *completely* dignified, getting obliterated by a scrawny nerd after pretty definitively winning is *super* super embarrassing, but it's at least slightly *more* dignified than washing dishes. With this conclusion he opens his eyes and looks for the orb, but Dark doesn’t spot it.
“Hey! Floating lightbulb, where are you?” He shouts. The glowing orb pops into existence right in front of Dark’s face, making him stumble back in surprise.
The orb giggles merrily at its little prank. Dark only glowers at it as he gets up, waiting for the stupid ball to stop laughing.
“What’d you want?” The orb chirps after settling down.
“Take me back” the dark-blue stick demands.
“Not with that tone! You need to say the magic words!” The orb reminds him in a sing-song voice.
Dark grits his teeth. He was hoping the orb would forget the apology.
“Take me back NOW.” He responds.
“Nope! That’s not it!” The orb sings.
“Take me back or else…!”
“Noooo hehehe”
“Uh…” Dark desperately tries to think of a way around saying sorry. “*Please* take me back?”
“No, not that one!”
“… Abracadabra?”
At this the orb giggles with glee. “You really want a way outta this huh? But there isn’t a way! You look really funny when you think hehe!” Dark clenches his fists and grinds his teeth. After a couple of deep, frustrated breaths, he closes his eyes and mentally prepares himself for the intense humiliation.
“I’m sorry.” He states in a frustrated tone.
“Foorrr?” The orb hints.
“I’m sorry for almost hitting-“ the sounds of the kitchen come back “-you.”
Darks eyes snap open and he sees the deep violet stick staring back at him with a look of confusion at Darks apology.
“Thank you?” He responds awkwardly.
Dark silently curses the orb. He shouldn’t apologize to a lowly powerless stick, or *anyone* for that matter.
The deep violet stick clears his throat “uh, I just wanted to see if you were ok.” The stick asks in a monotone voice. “Also you forgot your gloves.”
Dark looks down at his hands, which are in fact gloveless. And covered in soap and food. Great.
“It’s alright. The lunch rush is going to be starting soon, and we need more fries.”
Dark just glares at the stick.
“Aaalright, whatever. I need to show you what to do anyway, so come if you want to keep the job.”
Dark grumbles and begrudgingly and starts washing off his hands. What a day. At least making fries should be easy. He follows the stick.
How hard could peeling potatoes be?
================
Thank you all so so much for the support! I’m so proud of how this story is coming out, and your support means so much to me. I genuinely can’t thank you enough.
Hopefully now the chapters should come out much quicker, so just hang tight!
These are small creative writing projects that I randomly come up with. Often they are just first drafts so there is probably many grammar mistakes and pacing inconsistencies.
This is my first snippet I have posted to tumblr, so please enjoy :D
“Time alone is time well spent” is what my father used to say, “helps clear the mind.”
Little did I know how useful this information would be to me in my adult years. I was painfully overworked, exhausted, and burnt out. I didn’t know what to do, and I was at my breaking point. I felt completely and utterly trapped.
Then those words drifted through my head like the calm eye of a hurricane. It gave me a little sense of clarity, but I knew I had to weather the other side of the storm first. For the first time in years, I slept peacefully.
The next few months I started working and saving with a purpose. I spent money frugally, ate instant noodles in rotating flavours, and only spent money on the bare essentials.
Soon enough, I was able to set my plan into motion. I sold my car, quit my job, bought a used but reliable truck and camping gear, and set out into the wilderness.
At first I stayed at free day sites, keeping my family and friends updated on my journey. Eventually I had to buy a solar charging battery, which I can tell you was worth every penny. After that, I worked odd jobs, where ever they would take me I would work. I worked fast food, a mom and pop bakery, and even as a farm hand once.
I finally felt like I was living, like I could rest and move or stay at my leisure, not bound by any one thing or place. And the peace and quiet of those nights in the forest, those were to die for. The crickets chirping, the owls hooting, and the coyotes howling lulled me into the best sleep of my life.”
“Is that why you live on the ranch Grandpa? So you can hear all the animals at night?” Little Susie asks.
Grandpa chuckles and ruffles his granddaughters hair. “Yes Susie, that’s why I live in the ranch.”
In the meantime here is a little sheepy character I drew
More on redemption dark:
The fifth chapter (yes the fifth not the fourth) is a long one so be excited for that!
I do make a slight backlog of chapters for my own mental peace, it makes me less stressed and allows me to feel free to work on other chapters at my leisure.
