Forum Thread

It had been a couple of sun-rises since Amberpaw had gotten angry at Fadedleaf. She had pretty much gotten over it, but still avoided Fadedleaf.



Onyxpaw and Topazpaw were also avoiding each other like the plague. The two had nests directly next to each other, and Topazpaw asked Amberpaw to switch nests. Amberpaw complied, forgetting that her nest was next to Kyanpaw. Every morning she would wake up to see Topazpaw staring at Kyanpaw.



The apprentices went on their first official patrols, Amberpaw on a hunting patrol, Topazpaw on a border patrol, and Onyxpaw on the other border patrol.



Amberpaw was still an inexperienced hunter, having only learned how the previous sunrise. She crouched down as the rest of the patrol, Jasperlight, Pearlheart, and Condorwing, each took their places around a squirrel that they were trying to hunt. Amberpaw began lightly stalking the squirrel. Suddenly, the squirrel turned around and saw the little she-cat about to pounce. It tried to scurry away as she leaped on it and dug her claws into its bushy tail. The squirrel let out a high pitched squeal and yanked itself away from Amberpaw’s sharp claws, missing lots of fur in its tail after. The squirrel ran toward the nearest tree, when Condorwing, true to his name, pounced from a low branch and tackled the squirrel, effectively knocking it out. He neatly slit its throat as the other three cats gathered around him.



Pearlheart nodded at the two. “Good catch,” she mewed.



They started to head farther away from the camp to hunt. Condorwing buried his prey and ran to catch up. The patrol spent until sun-high hunting, and ended up with a good amount of prey.



Once they walked into camp and dropped off their prey on the fresh-kill pile, Pearlheart turned to Amberpaw and Jasperlight. “Emeraldstar told me to inform you two that you will be joining us at the gathering tonight, along with your littermates--”



Amberpaw nodded.



“And their mentors,” Pearlheart finished.



Amberpaw nodded again and headed into the apprentice den. Only Onyxpaw was there, who was neatly rearranging the moss in her nest.



“How was your border patrol?” Amberpaw asked.



Onyxpaw jumped, surprised. “Don’t sneak up on me like that!” she exclaimed.



Amberpaw rolled her eyes. “I didn’t sneak up on you-- I was actually walking quite loudly. You just weren’t paying any attention,” she paused. “So, how was your patrol?”



“Fairly good. Nothing happened,” Onyxpaw mewed. “I did get a bit wet though, I slipped into the stream. Lucky for me, it was a shallow part.”



Amberpaw laughed and then quickly composed herself. “I caught a mouse and helped catch a squirrel,” she mewed.



“Good for you then!” Onyxpaw mewed excitedly. She looked down sadly. “I still haven’t caught anything.” Amberpaw felt a pang of sadness but then pushed it to the side.



“Don’t worry,” Amberpaw attempted to comfort her awkwardly. “I’m sure you will catch something soon.”



“But what if I don’t?” Onyxpaw mewed worriedly.



Amberpaw sighed, and refusing to be nice anymore mewed, “If you don’t ever catch anything, then you’re a horrible hunter and should try doing something else.” in her irritation, she didn’t notice Onyxpaw gasp in astonishment.



Onyxpaw made eye-contact with Amberpaw and immediately looked away. “Maybe I shouldn’t ever talk to you about these things,” she mumbled.



Amberpaw nodded. “You really shouldn’t.” She calmly stepped out of the den.

. . .

It was finally dark, and the Clan was about to head to the gathering. Only a few cats were going to remain in camp, since the majority of the warriors had apprentices. Kyanpaw was only going to show her fellow apprentices around the gathering.



The cats that were going were beginning to gather around the entrance of the camp. Emeraldstar stepped out of her den, speaking rapidly to Pearlheart. Amberpaw turned to look at her, mentally willing him to hurry up. As soon as Emeraldstar saw her staring, she immediately stopped talking and sent a glare at the little tabby as she stepped to the front of her clan to lead them to the gathering. Once the cats noticed their usually silent leader leaving, they quit chattering and quickly followed her.



Amberpaw was one of the first cats to notice Emeraldstar was leaving, and after tapping her fellow apprentices lightly with a claw, began walking behind her leader. It was a short trip to get to the gathering place, even more so for GemClan since they were close to nearly all important landmarks. Amberpaw stepped lightly into the sandy area in front of the gathering clearing.



“Aren’t you excited for our first gathering?” Topazpaw whispered.



Amberpaw rolled her eyes. Apparently he didn’t know her very well. “I don’t get excited,” she told him.



Topazpaw gave an over-exaggerated gasp. “Really? I never noticed,” he mewed sarcastically. “You need to enjoy life for once,” he paused. “In your life.”



Amberpaw sighed. “Not happening,” she mewed as they stepped into the clearing.



GemClan was the second clan to arrive. First was their greatest enemies, ScorchClan. To Amberpaw and her littermates, ScorchClan wasn’t just the clan that fought constantly with GemClan over land, they were the cats that killed Opalwing’s mate and their father.



Amberpaw took a deep breath. This is a gathering, she thought. It doesn’t matter that we’re enemies. Here, we aren’t.



“Follow me,” instructed Kyanpaw to the three littermates. She began to walk toward a group of ScorchClan apprentices. “Please don’t insult them,” Kyanpaw mewed, turning to the little trio. “I’m talking to you Amberpaw.” Amberpaw rolled her eyes as they padded over.



A large, russet-furred apprentice was speaking to two younger, smaller cats. The older cat glanced over and saw Kyanpaw. “Greetings,” he mewed politely in a deep voice. “New apprentices?”



“Yes, Combustpaw,” she replied while dipping her head slightly. “This is Amberpaw, Onyxpaw, and Topazpaw.”



“Congratulations!” exclaimed Combustpaw. “We have new apprentices too, Lavapaw and Magmapaw.”



Kyanpaw looked around. “Where’s Charpaw?” she asked.



Combustpaw pointed his tail to the edge of the clearing. “She’s waiting for the other clans to arrive,” he squinted at the area she was in. “It appears that DirtClan has arrived.”



A young cat from DirtClan began mewing to Charpaw whose skin slightly reddened underneath her fur for a moment as she glanced Combustpaw, before she started shaking her head violently.



The little group of apprentices heard a voice from a warrior. “RockClan is here!” more cats wove their way in among the other three clans.



A moment after, they heard a familiar yowl. “Everybody gather around!” Emeraldstar mewed loudly. Her emerald eyes sent a slight glare at Amberpaw who pretended to ignore her while wondering why Emeraldstar was angry with her.



Amberpaw zoned out the leaders, who were talking about the great amounts of prey that they had. She could tell they were all lying, because once as a kit she had heard stories about the little prey found in leaf-bare. Her own clan was beginning to run out of prey, and while it was slowly, there was less prey to be found and caught during every hunting patrol.



Amberpaw snapped out of it when she heard gasps and growls on one side of the clearing. She pushed through the crowd to see what was going on.



A small white-gray she-cat was standing there. She was smaller than the average apprentice, but from the expression on her face Amberpaw could tell that she was definitely older.



“Nova, you mousebrain,” the cat muttered. “Great timing to have me hunt in the clearing.” She looked up, and seeing the leaders perched in the tree, the cat groaned and was about to turn around when a cat attempted to pounce on her.



“Hailpaw!” Smoothstar, the RockClan leader, shouted. “This is the gathering! Do not attack anyone!”



The little cat had easily dodged Hailpaw and had crossly swiped him, claws sheathed, in the ears.



The apprentice scurried back into the crowd while protesting that the truce was “Meant for clan cats and not rouge kits.”



“I apologize,” Smoothstar mewed. “We did not expect a young kit to show up during the gathering.”



The cat rolled her dark, reddish eyes. “I’m not a kitten,” she defended herself.



They suddenly heard a shout from the direction the cat had come from. “Rio! Where are you?” The cat—Rio turned around and walked toward the voice. A cat, quite a bit larger than Rio appeared from behind a bush.



“Nova…” Rio grumbled. “I’m over here!” she announced loudly.



“Oh, thank goodness Rio.” Nova mewed. “I was worried you had gotten lost again.”



Rio shook her head. “That was one time, and it was six moons ago!”



“It still happened,” argued Nova, the black cat’s ears twitching.



Rio shook her furry head. “Let’s go now, Nova, before we spark some kind of a fight with,” she paused, looking at the clans who were still staring at them, “the clans.”



The two rogues walked away, still quietly arguing about whether Rio wouldn’t get lost anymore.



Four slightly confused leaders turned back to their clans.



“Shall we continue?” asked Emeraldstar. She began once the other three leaders had nodded. “GemClan has three new apprentices, Topazpaw, Amberpaw, and Onyxpaw.”



The clans began cheering their names, “Topazpaw! Amberpaw! Onyxpaw!” Topazpaw was basking in the attention, while Onyxpaw was trying to hide behind a larger cat. Amberpaw merely sat where she was and stared forwards, expressionless.



Emberstar announced the new ScorchClan apprentices. Almost all cats in the clearing joined in chanting for the new apprentices, but Amberpaw stayed quiet. She prefered not to have to raise her voice.The time passed quickly, and before Amberpaw knew it, they were walking back to camp.



Jasperlight was walking next to her. “What did you think of your first gathering?” he asked.



Amberpaw’s tail twitched. “The rouges’ interruption was more—“ she paused, trying to think of a way to describe it, “interesting than the actual gathering.”



She looked up innocently. “Do all clan leaders lie about their prey?”



Jasperlight visibly winced. “We do it so we appear stronger to the other clans.”



Amberpaw blinked, confused. “If I could tell that every leader was lying about that, wouldn’t the other warriors know, too?”



Jasperlight shook his head firmly, letting his fur ripple in the wind. “Even if they did know, they would have no argument against us because of it since they do the same thing,” he told her.



Amberpaw nodded and slowed down her pace to match her littermates. The two cats were chattering excitedly about what had happened at the gathering.



“Amberpaw!” shouted Topazpaw, “Can you believe that we saw two rogues at a gathering!”



Amberpaw internally rolled her eyes at the statement. Why did they still have to act like kits? “It happened,” she mewed shortly. “I believe it.”



The clan arrived back at camp. It was late, and they all went to their dens. Amberpaw almost immediately dropped off to sleep, along with her littermates.

Blaise and Neva were twins who happened to get into a lot of trouble. Both of them got their powers in really stupid ways.
Blaise accidently burnt his hand on a waffle iron. He discovered his powers when he was trying to make popcorn for a movie night. The kernels popped while he was holding them.
Neva had an interesting way of gaining her powers. Neva, Blaise, and some friends were playing hide and seek. The girl had hidden in the freezer for an hour. Her powers were discovered when she was cold on the hottest day of the year. After that, Blaise wouldn’t leave her side during the summer unless she kicked him away.
“Ahh, movie night,” Neva grinned as she threw a bag of popcorn kernels at her brother. Blaise rolled his eyes and let it pop. He threw it back at her. Neva ate one and wrinkled her nose.
“No butter?” she asked. Blaise threw the TV remote at her.
“I popped the popcorn,” he said. “You butter it. I have heater hands, not butter fingers.”
Anyone could say that Blaise had the more useful ability. When the twins had to thaw out the freezer, Blaise just grabbed the ice and it melted.
Sometimes though, his power wasn’t so useful. “Ouch!” yelped Neva as she clutched her wrist. “Don’t touch me! It burns!”
Neva’s power was often used when it was warm. But one day it snowed.
Neva shivered as she held her practically frozen hands away from herself. “Blaise! Get over here!”
Blaise ran over and stopped in front of her hands. He immediately threw his hands in front of her as it got colder.
“What did you want?” he asked Neva.
“Well, I was gonna ask you to warm me up,” she glanced at her hands, which were thankfully no longer frozen. “You seem to have done that already.”
Her power did come in handy sometimes.
“Just put your hands there,” said Blaise, trying to put her in position without burning her. “Okay, don’t move.”
Neva looked from where her hands were in the currently-not-working refrigerator. “Call someone to fix this thing already!” she complained.
Blaise grinned. “Done already. Person says they can come by in three hours.”
“Three!” shrieked Neva. “I’ll be here forever!”
Blaise chuckled. “That’s the point of you doing this.”
Neva grunted with an irritated frown.

The statue of Mianite was overwhelmingly crowded that day.

Tom usually passed by it on his way to the castle, but today was strange. There were tons of people--half the village at least--crowded around it. He only glanced over as he passed. “Mianite, protect us all,” Someone whispered. “Protect us from your brother’s last living hope.”

Tom grit his teeth and broke into a run. I don’t know what the hell Mianite told everyone about Dianite, but it must be something huge to warrant everyone being this afraid. He thought, now thoroughly concerned.

He decided to take the turn to go to the library. Hopefully there would be something there to explain everything.

The sky darkened suddenly and lightning lit up the sky, with thunder booming overhead. Tom stopped abruptly and looked back to the statue. The people had all jumped back with a sharp gasp.

And Tom knew why as soon as Mianite appeared above it.

He tensed up and took a few cautious steps back as Mianite surveyed the townsfolk. His gaze locked on Tom.

“*bleep*,” Was all he said before taking off running as fast as he could.

“What’s the rush, Tom?” Mianite appeared in front of him, making Tom skid to a halt and fall onto his behind.

“Uh--” Tom blinked. “I have to get to the library.”

“I never saw you as much of a bibliomaniac, Tom,” Mianite hummed, offering him a hand up. Tom narrowed his eyes and crawled backwards. “...Hmph.”

“Why are you here, Mianite? Are you seriously going to kill me in front of your followers?” Tom growled quietly, getting to his feet himself. Mianite looked behind him, to the villagers who were watching in stunned silence.

“...I’ll let them decide,” Mianite decided, grabbing Tom by his hood and lifting him up into the air.

“Heyheyhey--” Tom yiped in surprise, looking up at Mianite. The villagers gasped.

“My loyal followers, you wanted protection?” Mianite boomed. Tom’s eyes widened.

“Mianite, don’t--”

“I give to you the Champion of Dianite!” Mianite lifted him up a bit higher. Tom winced. “The thief of the armor and the bow!”

The villagers gasped in unison. “My world is one with only one god--”

“I’m sorry, what?!”

“And this man directly opposes that world! Because of him, my brother may resurrect!” Mianite went on regardless of Tom’s interruption. The villagers shouted in protest.

“Dianite is not an evil god!” Tom snarled, struggling in Mianite’s grasp. “People need to understand that Dianite never intended to take over the world or kill the others gods; he just never shared ideals with his brother!”

“He lies!” Someone cried out. A chorus of shouting broke out in agreement.

“A Skyperson, too! The prophecy was wrong!”

Tom gulped. “You know I’m right.”

“I do. But they don’t. And they don’t ever need to know,” Mianite smiled at him. Tom scowled and clenched his fists furiously. “Go ahead. Reach for your sword. Prove them right.”

“I’d love to. But I won’t.”

The two stared at each other, hatred burning in their gazes. Mianite looked back to the crowd. “My brother’s Champion, powerless in my presence. The cowardly Champion of Ianite is nowhere to be found. I made my world with one god for a reason; now, what to do with him?”

The shouting was unclear, but the answer was certain. Tom blinked and looked up at Mianite again, thrashing. “Tom!” Tucker’s voice called.

He pushed through the crowd, Sonja beside him. “...Mianite,” She mouthed, though Tom couldn’t hear her.

“Ah, Tucker. Sonja. Pleased to see you both,” Mianite smiled.

“My lord, what is going on?!” Tucker shouted, darting forward (though the crowd seemed bewildered by this action).

“I’ll tell you what’s going on, he’s insane!” Tom shouted, thrashing again.

“For those of you who are unaware, Tucker here is my Champion,” Mianite introduced. Excited murmurs rippled through the crowd. “...And he’ll have the honor of killing Tom.”

“WHAT?!” Tom screeched, looking down at a stunned Tucker.

“You heard me. Tucker?” Mianite looked down at him. Tucker’s eyes were wide in absolute disbelief.

“M-My lord. He’s my friend,” He whimpered. “I couldn’t possibly--”

“Sure you could,” Mianite lowered himself so that he was only hovering.

“You know who requested the same thing, Mianite?” Tom glared daggers at Mianite. The comment made the god clench his fist. Tom gulped upon seeing sparks of electricity flicker from it.

“Tucker, he is Dianite’s Champion. My brother can only ever hope to revive if Tom is alive. Would you seriously like that to happen?” Mianite pointed out coolly. Tucker blinked, speechless.

“Tucker, you can’t,” Sonja called. “Please. It’s Tom.”

“Tucker, what did I tell you not ten minutes ago,” Tom pointed out, thrashing. He hid his fear quite well (though he was sure that Mianite could sense it). “Don’t let their feud destroy our friendship.”

“Our feud is over. It ended with my brother’s death,” Mianite growled. “Listen to me and kill him to avoid any future conflict.”

Tucker looked from Mianite to Tom. “I--”

Tom finally achieved what he had wanted with the thrashing. He slipped through the arms of his sweatshirt and fell onto the ground, leaving Mianite holding nothing but the hoodie. He took off running down the street, panting.

Bonus

- Loyalty Until Your Death -

Rain drummed steadily onto the roof and against the windows. Darkmount, Neggito, chiaki_nanami and Croscx were sitting inside, safe from the rain, and played cards. A few open bottles with a questionable substance inside of them suggested that they had been drinking; empty, dirty dishes were scattered all across the kitchen. A note on the fridge said:
'Kitchen Duty: Darkmount'

"Mau-Mau!" a voice rang through the house. "You're cheating, Croscx!" another voice jumped in.
Croscx was quick to draw a dagger and hold it right underneath the youngsters throat. "You said something?"
A boy with a slight Indian accent spoke up: "Hey, don't forget, we gotta work together if we wanna get this done."
"Mau-Mau isn't a team game, Dark. You genius."
"Yes, but if you kill chiaki_nanami now, we have one less killer on our side and you'd have to do all the dirty work on your own."
Croscx narrowed their eyes and thought for a moment before lowering the sharp object again. "Fine", they hissed, "but learn to respect me or you will regret it."

chiaki_nanami looked as if they wanted to say something, but right as they opened their mouth, a loud knock on the door silenced them again. The mafiosi exchanged a look and for a moment, there was total silence. Darkmount rolled his eyes. "Alright, alright, I'll go" he said, quickly lifted himself up from his seat and walked over to the door. He looked through the spyhole on the door and saw a short person right in front of it. He has never seen the person before. They were soaked in rain.
Darkmount turned around. "You guys, there's a stranger in front of the door, I think it's a traveler. They are soaking wet - what should we do?"
Croscx raised an eyebrow. "Let them in."

Darkmount shrugged and opened the door. "Hey, uhm, can we help you?" he asked, eyeing the strange figure that was standing in front of him. They were short, they must have been 160 centimeters at best. Due to the light he couldn't quite make out the color of their eyes, nor the color of their shoulder-long hair, but he noticed the side-swept bangs that were covering their right eye.
They raised their right hand, holding it out to greet him. "My name is Prim. I am in town to visit someone, but they're already asleep and won't open the door. I heard the citizens of the town are very nice, so I wondered if I may stay for the night?"
Darkmount turned towards the others yet again. He was not the one to decide it. Croscx got up, slowly walking towards the door. "Sure, Prim", they said, shooing Darkmount away with a quick hand movement. "Come on in."

The others were surprised, they didn't expect Croscx to let them stay; but Prim walked in with a confidence that was scary. They swiftly took off their coat and hung it up on the clothes rack before sitting down on the chair that used to be Croscx' seat. For a moment, the mafiosi held their breath. They knew how much Croscx hated it when someone took their seat, and this time it was a stranger that nobody would miss around here. The Godfather already reached for their dagger that was hidden underneath their shirt, but before they could pull it out, Prim began to speak, stopping them in their move:
"Well then, you're the mafia around here, huh?"
They looked around. "This place is pretty shabby", they snickered. "But hey, I don't think I've got rights to complain. You're letting me stay here, after all."

chiaki_nanami and Neggito exchanged a look. How did they know that they were the mafia? Or was it just a bluff?
"You know, I could help you finally getting things done. I could help you to get power. But I want something in exchange."
Croscx raised an eyebrow. "And what do you want?"

"Not much. Only your loyalty."
Croscx walked up to Prim, their hand still on their dagger. "And how do we know we can trust you?" The Godfather knew exactly that they have ratted themselves out already. This stranger knew they were the mafia. If the town ever found out, they would be doomed.

Prim just smiled. "I knew you'd ask."

--------------------------------

With a yawn, Prim woke up. The mafia has been following their orders and advice and today was the last day. Only one town member was left before the mafia could completely take over the town.
Croscx had died, but now it was the mafia's turn to avenge the Godfather and with that, ensuring their victory.
chiaki_nanami, Neggito and Darkmount pointed towards meme. Prim smiled gently and executed them by making them say the bee movie plot backwards, ultimately making them die.

Prim has proven to be helpful. They kept their promise. All townies were wiped out, and only the mafia remained.
"So", Prim said as they turned around to face the remaining mafiosi, "I kept my promise, now it's time for you to fulfill your part."
Their eyes widened in shock as chiaki_nanami pointed a gun to Prim's head. A sinister smile crept onto their face. "Loyalty until your death."

And with that, the traveler was never heard of again.

Short Story

- Sugar -

«What's taking you so long?»
The all too familiar voice rang through the kitchen. Felix rolled his eyes. He can be so bossy sometimes, he thought.
«I'm sorry, Greg,» he replied quietly, «I can't reach the sugar.»

Greg turned around, ready to help his shorter boyfriend, only to almost bump into him. He blushed heavily when he saw that Felix was stretching his arms out into his direction. «What- the sugar is on the shelf,» he said and tried to hide his reddened face in the collar of his coat. He didn't even put this thing off when he was inside the house.
His blush deepened when he saw Felix' smirk and in the next moment, Felix took his hand and pulled him into a tight hug. Greg felt how Felix buried his face in his shirt, but due to his height, Felix barely even reached up to Greg's chest - which made this hug slightly more awkward for Greg. But the worst part was yet to come.
Felix looked up to Greg and their eyes met. Oh my God. Felix was just too cute for him. Soft features, almost child-like, with a few freckles gracing his face. Blond, slightly curled hair framed his face, accompanied by two beautiful, green eyes.

[...]

«I hate them!»

The thoughts echo in my mind as I stand here.

«I can't wait to leave this household.»


Before me he lies.



«I swear I will cut all ties with them as soon as possible.»

A piercing sound.



«They're toxic.»



It goes faster.




«They're manipulative.»



People rush in.






«They're never supporting me.»




They push me away.






«They always ignore what I want!»






Hasty handmoves.














«But they're still my parents.»




























Flatline.

People did terrible things to survive. Candytuft saw it every day while he monitored the cameras. If the government told them to forget individuality with the penalty being death, the population would conform. If the government told them to put a bullet in their son's head for disobeying, they wouldn't hesitate, simply for the sake of their own lives.
What he really hated, though, were the demons and N.C. units. He'd watched them tear apart children and mothers and fearless rebels without a single trace of emotion. It was terrifying. Sometimes, after he'd seen an especially brutal fight, he'd lock his bedroom door and listen to Chen pace outside until Sydney pulled him away.
He always felt guilty the next morning as he sat in the camera room alone. Chen wasn't like the other demons and N.C. units. He didn't have the same dead eyes and vicious snarl. He was childish and sweet and dorky. He was different. But he still had two horns and a tail and a metal collar around his neck, even if it no longer blinked green and blue.
Quince was convinced the collar would start up again, one day, and he'd turn on them all. Sydney was much more hopeful. They argued about it occasionally, long into the night, angry shouting echoing through the tunnels. Candytuft hated those petty squabbles. They were unnecessary and stupid and Chen ended up tucked under his arm every time, shaking and sobbing.
The truth was, none of them really knew how the collar worked. None of them knew how to get it off without hurting Chen, or how to fix it, or how to use it properly. They didn't know, and that was frustrating. Still, fighting about it only made Chen sad. And, as much as Candytuft didn't want to admit it, it made him sad, too. He didn't want to admit a lot of things when it came to Chen.
He was thinking about that when, almost as if he'd read Candytuft's mind, Hollow asked, "So, you can feel normal human emotion, then?"
Candytuft practically fell out of his chair. Mere seconds ago, he'd glanced over his shoulder and the tunnel had been empty. Now, there was a very thin, very curious Hollow in the doorway. "Dude," he said. "What have I told you about sneaking up on me?"
"I didn't do it on purpose. You're just deaf. Anyway, you didn't answer my question."
"Maybe I won't. It's not like I have to tell you everything." Candytuft turned back to his screens. An ownerless demon had taken refuge from a pack of wild dogs in a tree, and was stabbing at their beady eyes with their tail. He briefly debated sending Tansy after them, but decided against it.
"Come on, Candy. I'm curious. You're supposed to be the indifferent one, and, yet, I see you smiling a lot when the others aren't looking." Hollow drummed his fingers on the table, his skinny hips resting against it. He really was getting thin. Candytuft made a mental note to watch how much he was eating the next time they had a meal together.
"Do you always creepily spy on people?"
"Yeah, pretty much. It's kinda goes with being undercover." Candytuft sighed instead of answering. Hollow was the kid of some important person in government, meaning he was the perfect candidate for an insider. Still, he was only nineteen, and the sleepless, stress-filled nights of reporting his findings were tough on him. Candytuft knew that he was going to be found out at some point - he didn't sugarcoat it - and he would either be taken, which was a death sentence, or he'd escape, cutting all ties with his siblings and mother. He got chills just thinking about the effect it would have on Hollow's personality, if he did survive.
"Stop avoiding the question, old man. So, Chen, huh? Got a crush?"
"Of course not. He's a demon and an N.C.U, Hollow."
"Well, yeah, I guess. But he's an attractive demon and N.C.U." Candytuft raised an eyebrow at him for that remark. Hollow flicked his forehead. "I'm aromantic, not blind. It's alright if you do. Sydney's in love with a long-dead singer. At least you have a chance."
"I'm not having this conversation with you. Go find Quince to bother or something. I've got work to do."
"Fine." Hollow pushed away from the table, heading toward the hallway. "Tansy wants you to make dinner, by the way."
"Tell her it's not my turn."
"Alright. You know, I'm sure Chen likes you back."
"Shut up and close the door on your way out," Candytuft snapped back. Hollow snorted, the click of the lock signaling his departure.