"Good evening, Florah! A pleasure to see you, as always. Have you come for your weekly garden assistance?"
"Hey, Tantor. I actually took care of that last night."
"Ah, splendid. How was your night of drunken Halloween shenanigating with Uunive? I trust you both had a lovely time."
"Yeah, it was great, actually. We went to a few different bars. ... Including a karaoke bar at the end. I never sing in front of people, but she, uh. She's an awesome hype woman."
"Wonderful, wonderful! Glad to hear you had such a delightful time! I hope this can be the start of you two becoming good friends. No need to be so skittish and scared around her after such a fun bonding experience, hm?"
"Y-yeah, I guess not. Anyways, um, have you seen Helixe? I want to teach it ASL since it doesn't really talk. I brought all the books I used when I was teaching myself, and I have a bunch of videos saved on my palmhusk, so--"
"Oh, how fun! I've honestly had the same idea, and I'm something of a language buff myself, you know. I have fluency in... twenty-five, I believe? I don't keep the best track, though ASL was the second one I learned. If you like, I would be honored to help!"
"Ah, well... I-I guess that's okay."
"You don't sound like it's okay. You sound and look incredibly put off by the idea, in fact."
"N-no, it's not that. I just kinda thought..."
"By all means, if I'm stomping on your toes, let me know. Clearly you don't want me intruding."
"I... yeah, I really don't. I'm sorry. I'm not trying to be rude or mean. I know you want to help, but I'm still trying to figure out a place for myself here with Tuuya's other charges and their quads and friends, you know? After that night with Uunive, I want to try spending time with everyone else instead of being a weird outsider. Helixe feels like an easy starting point, plus I kinda helped create it? So it would be fucked up to avoid spending time with it."
"Yes, yes, of course. By all means, don't let me get in the way. And let me just say that I'm so, so proud of you!"
"Proud of me?"
"Yes, of course! From the night I've met you, you've been like a frightened rabbit scurrying away at the mere idea of putting yourself out there and being perceived. I can't imagine what must have happened to you to cause such a strong trauma response to meeting people-- Or maybe it's not trauma, and you're just like that! Regardless, the fact you're forcing yourself out of your little protective bubble and allowing others to know you is something to be praised! You're doing something wonderful and amazing for yourself, and I just know that everyone else would be proud of you, too."
"I-I, uhh. I guess that makes sense. Thanks."
"You are most welcome, and I'm rooting for you to continue making progress coming out of your shell. I promise we'd all love to meet you if you give us a chance."
"Right. ... So, about Helixe?"
"Hm? Oh right!! I believe it's with Uunive at the moment, probably somewhere in those tunnels that only those two fit in. Stick around long enough, and I'm positive you'll see them."
"Okay. I'll uh, see if there's anything I can help out with until then so I'm not just waiting around like a weirdo."
"Oh hush, you're no more of a weirdo than anyone else in Tuuya's found family. You're certainly more normal than I am. You're at least a troll!"
"... You're. You're not a troll??"
"You didn't know?"
"Wha-- No! How would I??"
"... Huh. I suppose that's a good point. I don't recall telling you, and Tuuya isn't the type to casually throw around personal details about other people. Didn't you think it was weird that my blood tastes so bad?"
"Well, yeah, but I figured-- I don't know what I figured! Are you a swarm, too?"
"Oh no, not at all, but wouldn't it be fascinating if I was? Alas, I'm just an ordinary immortal shapeshifting alien."
"None of that is ordinary!"
"Not from your perspective, I'd wager. I'm guessing you have questions?"
"Yeah, a lot!"
"Well, time is a bottomless resource of mine. At least, tonight it is since I'm not needed at the sanctuary. Fire away! Let the interrogation begin!"
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The Craving
[Easy reading version on Toyhou.se]
Celise glanced out the train window, watching the scenery pass by. Ordinarily they would have been much more interested in watching the other passengers, examining their small habits, surreptitiously taking notes on their behaviour, trying to deduce what kind of person they must be by witnessing this tiny slice of their life.
But, it was hard to concentrate on the living when one so desperately craves consuming them.
The last time they left town to visit Tuuya they were accompanied by Vallis and his disturbingly-familiar pet, the cuspblood having trapped them against the window to prevent them from escaping and feasting on the irresistible meat bags that were aboard the carriage without trying to climb over him first.
Meat bags, they grimaced, they didn’t know if it was better or worse to de-personify what they hunger for the most.
Without the cephalopod troll to distract them, they felt antsy, famished. They hadn’t wanted to see him again, but he did function as a decent roadblock when required. They drummed their fingers against their thighs as an attempted distraction, ears twitching at the sound of their slightly-sticky fingers hitting the papers on their lap.
It was a copy of their latest screenplay, one they had emailed to their boss Aysnir for a review. As always, he loved it and thought it was brilliant. And as always, he wanted to meet with them in person to discuss it.
It was Celise’s usual psychological horror fare written into an approximately one hundred minute film, but for once they had incorporated something a lot more personal into it.
Something the zombie-loving indigoblood might actually approve of without edits.
Obskur Productions was a modest-sized studio, its movie budgets funded primarily through the owner’s seemingly-endless riches. Props were made in-house, and when Celise passed the workshop they spotted two of their co-workers constructing fake sci-fi technology by sticking hivehold objects to cardboard boxes and spraypainting them chrome. They were too engrossed in their work to notice the screenplay writer pass by, but Celise never cared to speak with their colleagues anyway.
They walked onto the only sound stage within the building, in which one of the sets was in the middle of being constructed. Befitting the props of the previous room, the scene around them was supposed to resemble a Fleetship interior, every square inch covered in futuristic chrome and blinding white lights. The brighter the stage, the more the special effects would stand out, the director had declared.
Celise remembered what this film was supposed to be. They wrote a scene about a spacefarer on a solo trip, but the ship loses power and they end up drifting aimlessly through space. The isolation would slowly drive the protagonist mad, oxygen levels and food rations would deplete over the course of the movie, and they would be convinced they were hearing something aboard the ship with them…
Aysnir wanted aliens. Giant insectoid aliens that crawl through the vents, with needle teeth and Xenomorph-style second jaws, and an ovipositor tail that’ll implant its eggs into unsuspecting trolls until they hatch and its young will explode out of their victim’s stomach.
It was such a stupid idea. The frog troll clenched their teeth, glaring straight ahead. This set design was meant to be clinical, sanitised, alien, familiar yet wholly unwelcoming and hostile. Not the stage for even more pointless blood splatters and weird bodily explosions.
While they were occupied by their own raging thoughts, they heard footsteps approach them - albeit dulled, thanks to how their senses had altered as a result of their undeath. What was more apparent to them was the smell, the expensive citrus and sandalwood cologne belonging to Aysnir Obskur could not hide that irresistible scent of healthy highblood flesh.
“Hey, hey, hey, Celise! How’s my brilliant little writer going?”
Celise was brought back to reality and tensed as the director approached them from behind, giving them a hearty slap on the back and a winning grin.
“It’s… It’s okay,” they murmured, quickly averting their eyes once their gazes met.
“I am loving the make-up, by the way, verrry spooky! Getting all geared up for Fright Night? Or wanting to become a double threat and get up on our stage?” the indigoblood laughed, and patted Celise’s cheek… Then made a small grimace and wiped his hand on his pants, feeling the slimy residue on their face.
Celise grumbled in response, which sounded vaguely like a croak. Their undead state seemed to have altered the vocal cords along all the other physical changes, making them much more froglike in nature.
“You, um… You wanted to speak to me about my latest script?” They attempted to re-rail the conversation.
“Yes! Of course! Come with me to my office, we have much to discuss!” Aysnir switched gears, patting the screenplay writer on the shoulder and then giving them a light push in the direction of his office.
Celise never liked how touchy he was. They bit their lip in annoyance, but obediently followed after.
The halls leading to Aysnir’s office were lined with posters of all his favourite movies: The Rainbowdrinker Beach Babes series, Zombie Apocalypse Gorefest 5000, Night of the Killer Zombie Boyfriends, Hurricane Piranha 8D, The Night Flesh-Eating Tapeworm Shifters Ate My Lusus… Celise remembered all their original screenplays for each film, before they were gutted, defiled, perverted. Stripped away of all nuance and artistic integrity, and turned into vapid and lowbrow schlock to suit the director’s own tastes.
‘He will always kill the heart of them and bring them back wrongly,’ Tuuya had told them.
They clutched their latest screenplay close to their chest. But what if this time…?
Celise had seen the interior of Aysnir’s office so many times the eclectic mix of decorations hardly phased them anymore. Most of them were props from previous films, but there were also the very imposing mannequins wearing costume replicas of Freddy Krueger and Jason Voorhees positioned behind the director’s desk. On the centre of the wall was a signed photograph of Aysnir shaking hands with the director of Sharknado, apparently one of his proudest moments.
They politely sat down on the chair closest to them, and placed their screenplay neatly in front of them. Aysnir did not take his seat at his desk, instead opting to casually lean against it next to them. He always liked to pretend that formalities were below him, he was a cool boss.
Celise was the first to speak.
“So, um… What- What did you think…?”
“Oh, it’s great! Brilliant as always!” Aysnir replied immediately, and seemingly without any thought. “You added a zombie in it without me needing to ask! Very enthusiastic, love it, love it a lot.”
Celise smiled a little. They knew it, their script about a freshly-turned zombie struggling with their new cravings is finally a hit with him. Quite possibly the sole good thing about their new condition is that it gave them the inspiration to pour all their feelings into a new movie, and ways people can understand their struggles without knowing exactly how real it is-
“Buuut…” The director smiled sheepishly, and looked apologetic at the cuspblood. But not in a way that’s genuinely apologetic, as the jovial tone easily betrayed any notion of empathy. He was clearly going through the motions to let them down gently.
As he always did.
Celise stayed quiet, and prepared for the worst.
“It’s, well…” Aysnir waved his hand, “You’re doing the thing you always do, Celise. The horror part is always implied!”
He clears his throat, and picks up the screenplay on the desk and flicks through to the offending segment. It’s never a good sign when the director knows exactly where it is.
“‘A series of rapid cuts. Chisma’s bloodstained hands. A brief flash of the half-eaten corpse. An eyeball between teeth. An abstract spray of blood and the squelch of viscera. Scenes too quick for the audience to properly comprehend, but feel all the same.’ Like, this imagery is amazing - brilliant, even - but, the audience wants to see the gore and viscera! And no one likes confusing, dreamlike stories anymore, they want to be told exactly what’s happening on the screen so they don’t have to read an article about a confusing ending afterwards.”
The indigoblood shrugged, then flashed his usual blindingly bright grin. One that he thinks is reassuring, but instead feels patronising.
“So, whaddaya say we scrap all that scene, and then go real hard on the special effects to show the zombie eating his friend in as hi-res detail as possible? The audience? Will love it, it’ll make them squirm, make them scream, make them wanna recommend it to their friends as the most horrifying film they’ve ever watched!”
Celise bit their lip and clenched their fists in their lap. It- It’s still not good enough?
“But, that’s… I thought you would…” They look away, unsure how to convince their boss how to keep his hands off their script once more.
“Like it?” Aysnir completed their sentence, slightly incredulous. Then he laughs. “Of course I like it! Love it, even. You know how talented you are, and I am oh-so-lucky to have you! But we’re not just a movie production company, we’re a business. We gotta give the audience what they want, and I know what that is. We’re the perfect team! You come up with your brilliant little ideas-” He points at Celise, “and I make them marketable.” He points back at himself.
Of course. It’s about marketability. As if movies are a product, not an art. A means to get people in cinema seats paying full price tickets to see something mediocre, but the quality of the work doesn’t matter as long as the funds go back into Aysnir’s pockets.
It was sickening. Celise felt their stomach growl.
“But, um, I don’t- I don’t want them to be marketable,” they said, softly, uncertain.
Aysnir made a shocked face. “Huh? You don’t want to be a star? You don’t want trolls of all demographics flooding into theatres all over to witness your brilliant works?”
“I, um- I do, but-”
“Fantastic! I always knew you were a go-getter!” The indigoblood pointed two fingerguns at Celise. “Buuut, that means we gotta ix-nay the ubtleties-say, y’know what I’m saying? Trust me, I want you to succeed, buddy. That’s why we have these meetings! To figure out how to put a bit of extra elbow grease in, and fine tune that baby until she purrs!”
Celise felt the bile rise in their throat. Saliva bubbled up in their mouth, and they had to stop themselves from growling. The more he talked, the more frustrated they felt. And that just made them hungry.
‘Do not be Sisyphus, Celise,’ Tuuya’s warning popped into their mind once more, ‘He will always change things because he cannot appreciate them as they are.’
They shook their head, and stood up, looking Aysnir dead in the eye.
“No, you don’t understand. I- I don’t want to write something appealing, I want to write something I want. I want to write something special! If people don’t get it, then that’s- That’s their problem!”
Aysnir looked shocked at this outburst for a moment, but then laughed. He put both his hands on Celise’s shoulders.
“Celise, buddy, let’s stay cool, alright?” He grinned.
Celise did not calm down one bit, instead they just felt patronised. They chewed on their lip, and if blood were still pumping through their veins, they would certainly be feeling it start to boil.
“I get it, you want to write your snazzy little horror flick, but in this industry, niche doesn’t work. We’re not arthouse, none of our audience is here for things that make them want to think. I’ve been telling you this over and over again, but I guess you’re just a stubborn little frog, aren’t you?” His tone was light, as if he were speaking to a child, and he continued to pat their shoulders as he spoke.
A low gravely croak rumbled through Celise’s throat. That feeling of hunger was becoming too much to bear.
“No, you’re- You’re the one who isn’t listening!” They snapped.
Aysnir, true to how he always acted, was unfazed. In fact, he seemed to find it a bit amusing.
“Woah, there! How about we take that tone down just a couple notches? I’m listening, I’m always listening, that’s why I always have so many ideas about how to make your ideas better! So, how about we take a breather, relax for a few minutes, and then we’ll hit rewind and go back to the talk about making the zombie scarier?” He took his hands off Celise so he could twirl a finger in a circular motion, gesturing for them to circle back to their previous discussion - or imply that he thinks they’re losing their marbles.
‘He can never bend or break, he can only be tossed aside.’
Celise couldn’t take it any more. Their breaths were heavy and ragged with rage, saliva was pouring out of their mouth, their stomach and jaws screamed at them for some release from this hunger.
Aysnir had noticed this shift in their behaviour, and finally stopped talking, realising that his screenplay writer’s outburst was not funny in the slightest. In fact, he seemed quite afraid of them.
But it was too late. Before their mind could keep up with their movements, they attacked in a starved daze.
The first thing they remember in that moment was their hands grabbing his neck, squeezing tighter and tighter, and their tongue wrapping around his face to muffle any screams, and before he could react the sound of a snap-
The second thing they remember was a flurry of indigo staining their hands and mouth, the overwhelming smell of fresh meat, a half-chewed mass of flesh in a shredded polo shirt, something no longer beating in their hand, and the squish of an eyeball between their teeth.
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✏️ and of course, for Kammo
My girl, my beloved, my scrunkly little heathen whom I adore dearly.
Kamala is one of my OG crowd, probably the second I ever made, so she's got a special place in my heart as someone whose muse has been with me for about 10 years. At a glance, you know that one meme that talks about characters who are silly but profoundly sad? That's her.
Kamala learned how to be funny and sociable at an early age as a form of a coping mechanism, and it's stuck around long enough to where she doesn't even recognize it as such anymore. For what it's worth, she's weird, but generally well-meaning, even if her lack of a filter and generally flippant demeanor lands her in hot water at times.
Where she's generally dismissive towards herself and often uses humor in any situation that she can, it's generally forward enough to where it's a dominant virtue that turns into a terrible flaw. While she knows when to be serious, she may be avoidant of it unless it's unavoidable, and it's not hard to tell that when things get serious, it becomes uncomfortable because she knows that they can't just laugh themselves out of the topic or events at hand. This is especially present whenever someone is pointing out a flaw that she has, which is generally Tuuya calling her out for neglecting herself in the process of putting others first. While she isn't against admitting that she has flaws, she doesn't like the idea of having to genuinely reflect on herself because it would entail facing what she doesn't like about herself.
Kamala doesn't remember much of her life. She has a few core memories, but there's still a lot missing. She has thoughts and reactions that she isn't aware of, responses to some things that she can't explain. She's got a lot of trauma surrounding herself, but she's suppressed it to the point of where even naming it isn't guaranteed to ring any bells. She struggles a lot with depression and anxiety, but she's spent enough time laughing through the pain to where it just feels like the "right" thing to do, both to keep herself from focusing on it and from worrying anyone else. How is she gonna take care of her loved ones if she's too busy being stuck on herself, right?
Well, it's no secret that she has unhealthy means of dealing with night-to-night life, whether it's working herself to the bone or always trying to be of use to someone because she's merged her identity with her work, or if she's hell-bent on making someone smile because she couldn't stand to see someone feeling what she often ignores in herself.
With her unexpected rift stumbling (courtesy of Whisper) into folks outside of her Beforan crowd, she's faced with a new challenge, a new reality, and a new set of fears. She might not be able to die permanently due to her status as a resurrected, god-tier rift jumper, but the people that she's grown to love and hate can. She knows it, and it's instilled a sense of strain and urgency upon her that she hasn't felt since she and her original crew were all still alive. This isn't like the other rift-jumpers, who were given the same relative immortality. There is an extremely real threat that she could lose these people for good. There's no forgiving mistakes. There's no room for error. There are no second chances in this realm. She believes that if she doesn't keep it together and get things right every time, then she'll be forced to watch another beloved life slip through her fingers like sand.
Additionally, her lack of memories consequentially includes a lack of self-awareness. She knows that she's a God Tier Sylph of Life, but she has no idea of how powerful she actually is and used to be, and she won't unless she remembers herself. Unless she recollects the pain that she so thoroughly suppressed that it only subconsciously and situationally exists, she won't understand her potential.
In essence, the only way that she would be able to grow would be under the condition that she would first have to break, and she's willing to do everything in her power, even throwing away her own life and well-being, to make sure that doesn't happen.
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