Forum Thread

Lilias Sophie
~ Currently Playing: Something Hyperpop ~

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Lilias was startled for a moment before smiling and patting him on the head. "Yep, good ol' me! It's great to see you again." She paused before remembering the book. "And this isn't just any book, it's a textbook! I was hoping to have Leafe read it out, but I wanted to try and see how much I can get myself, since he's been teaching me. And, of course, I wanted you to get the first look."

Kubo Atsushi
Kubo buried his face into her stomach. She was warm and comforting, and he felt his heartrate slow down.

The world was a scary place, but Lilias made it better. The monsters wouldn't come for him with her there, and he'd always be full so long as she could find a fresh loaf of bread out to cool. So long as she was here, he was fine.

"Tex-ed book?" He hated books. Big sister used to throw them at him and the big ones were the worst. But Lilias liked looking at the words and said happy things about them, so he pretended.

For Lili.

Though he still thought they were dumb..

Maybe a tex-ed book was something different? Maybe it had the fun pictures in it, instead of all the black lines you stared at and then claimed it was talking to you.

---

Lilias Sophie
~ Currently Playing: Something Hyperpop ~

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"It's the kind of books they have in the schools. The ones you can use to learn to add numbers or... Uh... Learn about the past, I guess? I don't think I want to know what kind of past made this place, though, so I'll stick to the numbers and whatever else there is." They set the book on a less moist part of the street, trying to see if any of the words on the cover looked familiar.

Kubo Atsushi
Kubo pulled back, blinking up at her. "Oh. Numbers."

He tried to sound happy and excited because Lili wanted him to be. He didn't want to let Lili down.

Otherwise, she'd find out he was stupid. Then she wouldn't want him anymore. So he had to do the math this time, and he couldn't let the stuff get mixed up in his head.

"Can I see?" he asked hesitantly, tugging on her sleeve.

---

Lilias Sophie
~ Currently Playing: Something Hyperpop ~

---

She nodded and opened the textbook to... a blank page. "Uh..." They turned another page and saw what looked like a recreation of the cover. Another page, just a bunch of words. Finally, she came to a page that had a bunch of numbers. No mathy looking symbols, though. "I... guess we keep going?"

They turned another page, seeing a whole bunch of words and a few pictures of the green leaves and trees she fantasised of. "Ugh, I might have to ask Leafe for help with this." For good measure, they flipped towards somewhere in the middle of the book, finally confronted by numbers. She saw a few symbols that they recognised, like a minus sign, but there were extra lines and weird other things in some places. Near the top of the page, in big letters, she could tell it said Long Division, but hell if they knew what that meant. "Oh... Do you know what any of this means? If not it's fine, I'm just really confused about it."

Kubo Atsushi
Kubo tilted his head at the black things. "Those are words," he tried. "They tell you stories."

No, that was stupid. Think.

He thought very hard, trying to remember what big sister said about words and books. She said a lot of stuff about other worlds and realities but he wasn't sure she wasn't just messing with him. Other worlds were dream stuff.

The real world was soggy paper and cities and Lili.

Lili. Right. Focus.

"This symbol mean you gotta put things together." He tapped on the one shaped like baby Jesus' cross. "Like apples and stuff. Then you get the whole apples."

---

Lilias Sophie
~ Currently Playing: Something Hyperpop ~

---

"That makes sense.", they spoke, staring at the page. "And I know this one is the opposite." She pointed to a small line in between numbers. "I'm confused about the big lines, though." They pointed to a line that was under one number and above another.

Their fingertips dipped in the rippling stream, the golden glow from the sun warming the crystal waters. Soft, vibrant grass was pressed to the earth, printing marks from the path she took to the river from the beautiful forest of emerald trees. Though she had no memory of walking there.

It was just them and the sound of the stream. A natural, effortless melody.

Kae’s eyes slowly opened as a dull light filtered in through the curtains. They never did much to let them sleep, just doing enough to give them privacy.

Slowly, sitting up slightly, she reached a hand to their cheek. Slightly damp. She had been crying again.

Their heart throbbed for the perfect little paradise in their dreams, yet she knew it would never happen. She didn’t believe in miracles and she gave up on hoping some time ago that one day, one day, the world would be better.

Reluctantly, Kae withdrew themselves from the blankets with a sigh. With delicate hands, she folded and tucked the bedding into something that would be considered tidy, then paused and glanced at the curtains.

Shaking their head, she decided to leave them undrawn. The windows had likely collected dust, but she never really thought to clean them in the last few weeks. Unlike them, really, but their habits had been forgotten as she grew more and more attached to this imaginary world in their dreams.

A brief shuffling noise through the hollow walls told Kae that Dante was still home.

It was strange. He would have, should have, left by now. Kae never really saw him in the mornings, unless one of the two was sick or if it was the weekend. He had work to do, though always left them a handwritten note and breakfast.

She was grateful to have their brother and had jumped at the chance to stay with him when he found a place not under his parents’ roof. Kae never bothered to call him foster brother or adopted brother.

There wasn’t much point either. He was family and it was plenty enough for them.

---

Sitting on one of the two wooden chairs crafted with help from his father, Dante twiddled his thumbs.

One empty ceramic bowl was placed on the side, whilst a plate sat before the opposite chair presented two crispy slices of whole wheat toast, decorated by the local berries behind the house.

He didn't have the skill or knowledge for jam making and sugar was an expensive luxury anyway.

Looking up, Dante sensed that she was at the door before he saw their shadow. He knew Kae was awake, feeling the shift in weight on the floorboards and the muffled creak that they made whenever the panel was pressed.

When the door opened, giving a whine so squeaky that he had to bite his tongue to distract him from the sound, he mentally noted to fix it when Kae was at school. And the windows, the weeds and the flickering lightbulb outside his room. He gave them a smile. "Morning.. and surprise!"

He chuckled, amused at their puzzled expression. "I thought that I'd just see you before I go. Work might keep me late tonight and I don't want to leave with no explanation."

Kae responded with a light smile. "Thanks... and for breakfast."

"That's okay. I have to go now, so I'll see you soon. If not tonight, then tomorrow morning." Dante said, picking up his jacket and glancing at his sister. He noticed the small tracks where tears had been and he felt a pang of sympathy for them, though acted as if he hadn't noticed. She deserved to keep their dignity.

She nodded and watched her brother leave, slipping through the door and away from them.

---

After sending Quincy off to school, Faith dug out a couple crumpled hundred-dollar bills from her purse, before checking over the grocery list. Time to go shopping. On her way to the grocery store- a pretty decent walk away from her home, she saw two figures in the distance poring over a book.

She passed by Lilias and Kubo, just so happening to glance upon their puzzled faces. “Long division is when you divide a number by another. Though of course, that parts pretty self explanatory. It’s kind of like a guessing game, I suppose. I can show you how it works?” She offers quietly, stopping to look at them.

Kubo Atsushi
Kubo clung to Lili's middle, glaring at the strange person who was trying to talk to them. "Who are you?" he demanded. "Whaddya want with Lili and me?"

Math, math. A horrible mystery. He hated this math person. Anyone who liked math was stupid and mean.

Except Lili, of course. But she was special.

---

Tazuna Nagamasa

---

Tazuna gasped. A pretty person just "hello"d him, but it was mostly because there were still peppermints! He yeeted toward the unspecified furniture where the bowl was placed and grabbed a handful (which I guess would be considered a big handful for a regular person).

He also waved back at the blond(?) person who he assumed was probably accompanying the (probably) screaming gremlin. Maybe he could convince them to buy him stuff later...

---

Luther Waters
Luther raised an eyebrow, not sure if he should be annoyed or laughing. Had the kid really shown up just to steal all of the candy? Peppermints no less? What, did he just collect terrible candy flavours?

Well the kid wants candy. Gotta respect the grind, I guess.

Shrugging, Luther turned his attention to the open door at the far end. There... the art room.

It was a strange feeling, coming back here after all this time. He'd grown up in that little room, after all. Always the kid scribbling in the back, only mumbled responses whenever another kid tried to talk to him. All those days, too scared to talk to the other kids had made him who he was.

An artist.

Crazy stuff.

---

𝓢𝓸𝓯𝓲𝓪 𝓔𝓵𝓲𝔃𝓪𝓫𝓮𝓽𝓱 𝓐𝓻𝓲𝓼𝓸𝓷'𝓼 𝓟𝓞𝓥

"I-- I, um... Have no idea what you're t-talking about," the NPC stuttered, as Sofia narrowed her eyes, pushing the innocent child away.

"H-HEY! What was that for?!"

She ignored the pathetic peasant's worthless protest, and turned her attention to what Loser Whale had said. Ohhh, so Harry was usually in the art room? SHE'D FIND THE LITTLE WORM, AND THEN SHE'D-

"Could you... Say sorry. Please..."

...

Wait a minute.

She watched as some little squirt grabbed a large handful of peppermints...

And gasped.

"Hey, you!" She raised an index finger, pointing it accusingly at the scrawny teenager. "You are gonna share those. Right...?"

Her eyes turned vaguely threatening at the figure.

She couldn't care less about peppermints. But if this KID wanted them, SHE WAS GOING TO HAVE SOME TOO!

Tazuna Nagamasa

---

"You are gonna share those. Right...?"

Tazuna crammed the entire handful of peppermints into his backpack and some more for good measure, licking the paper stick that once had delicious rock candy on it one last time before placing it in the trash (not in his backpack that's gross). He looked at the gremlin masquerading as a child and came to the conclusion that, they were probably rich as heck.

He dug through his backpack and picked out a handful of the really pretty but kinda bad-tasting candies he got a while ago. "Um," He extended his hands (hesitantly) toward the girl and did his best cute face. "I'll give you those for, um, a thousand credits...?"

(note:
)

---

𝓢𝓸𝓯𝓲𝓪 𝓔𝓵𝓲𝔃𝓪𝓫𝓮𝓽𝓱 𝓐𝓻𝓲𝓼𝓸𝓷'𝓼 𝓟𝓞𝓥

Sofia reflexively stiffened and glared at the impertinent worm before her. "I asked if you would share," she told him, less of a statement of a fact and more of a demand. To think! That this STUPID-

"How about this." She smiled very sweetly. "You give me the candy... and I won't tell my daddy. Or, trust me, I could do even worse! Just give me it. Now."

She reached for it with her PERFECTLY POLISHED, GLORIOUS, ALBEIT TINY HANDS. The candy would be HERS!

🌺Hyeon-jeong Yang's POV🍃

(Ahem, disclaimer, since they were created late, the following will be a short exposition of their home life, followed by him meeting up with the middle schooler children. Hyeon-jeong Yang, as mentioned inside the description within their sign-up, skipped a couple grades, and is thus already with the middle schoolers. Without further ado, let's get into it!)

They awoke to a slight rapping on the door, one that had long since grown familiar. One that always seemed hesitant, yet hopeful. One which they didn't care very much for.

"Hyeon-jeong? Are... you awake?"

"Yeah. I'm up," they replied unenthusiastically.

It was always like this. Without fail, every single day.

"I made breakfast. Kimchi Fried Rice. It's-"

My favorite. I know, he thought before his father could even finish.

He wasn't nearly as good at cooking as... Mom had been. But he tried. Although Hyeon-jeong didn't know if they particularly cared for his father's 'trying'.

I mean, yeesh. This is sad. What does he want, The Father of the Year Award?

Hyeon-jeong pushed their food around on his plate. They didn't find themself particularly hungry, but if it meant getting away from that... face, he almost wanted to.

Jeez. He always looks like a ghost.

"Could you... tell me about what happened at school yesterday?"

Hyeon-jeong's eyes widened, and they immediately ate faster. "Nuffing hahppened," they told him flatly, while he was still chewing.

"Hyeon-jeong, please. I know there's something you're not telling me." The pleading look on his face... it was almost like...

Ugh. Shut up. SHUT UP! Stop pretending that you care.

They hurriedly pushed the plate aside. "Oh, would you look at the time! Better go. Love you! Bye." Hyeon-jeong yanked their bag off the floor,

"But... you haven't even finished-"

They darted out the doors before another word could be spoken.

Well. Glad that's over.

I mean... what did he want from them, anyway? It wasn't like things could just go back to the way they were. They never could.

And he wasn't even sure if he wanted them to.

~~

They sat down at their desk, doodling on the paper out of pure boredom. Eyeing their classmates, they pondered whether or not to hit one of them with a paper airplane...

Ehhh. Nah. These idiots aren't worth it.

Luther Waters
This was of course, Luther's time to intervene. As a responsible babysitter who ensured that his charge did not get permanently banned from the community centre, and as a reasonable human being who was in no way scared of an eight year old...

He hid behind the sink and motioned for the hapless candy kid to run.

---

𝓢𝓸𝓯𝓲𝓪 𝓔𝓵𝓲𝔃𝓪𝓫𝓮𝓽𝓱 𝓐𝓻𝓲𝓼𝓸𝓷'𝓼 𝓟𝓞𝓥

Oh. Huh. Loser Whale seemed to have disappeared. Where had he gone off to...?

"Ohh. Are we playing Hide And Seek? Okayy! But I'm gonna-"

Wait. No. She had to get the candy. She cleared her mind of thoughts of... whatever that peasant was doing. She turned her attention back to the candy child, squinting angrily.

"So, are you going to share... or not?"

Georgie Gandolfini's (Mr. Gandolfini's) POV

A tall, bulky man made the way into the room with a skip in his step. He beamed and clapped his hands together.

"Good morning, GOOD MORNING! How's everyone doing today?" He glanced about at the students, smiling at each and every one of them. This was going to be a good day!

"Oh, just grand, teach," one of the students snorted with a roll of their eyes. It was Hyeon-jeong Yang, if the descriptions he had been given were to be believed. It was almost a little startling seeing the 11-year-old, given that Hyeon-jeong was a good bit shorter than his peers.

"Great, great!" He was going to choose to ignore the possible mocking in the student's voice. "Now, I'm going to take attendance!" He cheerily pulled out the list.

🌺Hyeon-jeong Yang's POV🍃

Wowwww. What a drag. The teacher was acting so sweet, Hyeon-jeong thought they might throw up at any second.

What was even the point in getting to know any of his classmates, anyways? They were just gonna ace all their classes, get through this... have nothing to do with anyone in this moronic bunch. Hopefully.

They just hoped that "Mr. Gandolfini" over here wasn't gonna drag him into too many group projects or anything. That would suuuck. The worst part is, he definitely seemed like the kind of teacher to do that sort of thing!

Still, it didn't hurt to know your competition so you could crush them later. Hyeon-jeong carefully studied his various classmates.

What kind of last name even is "Gandolfini", anyway? Was one of his grandparents a Lord of the Rings fanatic and the other part of the Italian mafia? Either way, that's just sad.

Tazuna Nagamasa

---

"Um."

Tazuna wondered about his options. Well, it wasn't like he wanted to eat those candies anyway...so, like, maybe he could go lower or something? It seemed like something reasonable to do.

"You look like a crushed lollipop-"

Instead he said the first thing on his mind. Dammit. Other kids sucked anyway.

---

“My name? It’s Faith. Faith Alefrostair. I heard you talking about math, hmm? I can help.” Faith seemed unperturbed by the young Kubo’s glaring, a kind smile on her face. “Long division’s easy. It’s kind of like guessing games. Do you like guessing games?” Faith asked softly, with smiling eyes and an aura that radiated warmth…sort of motherly. Mind you, Faith wasn’t that tall, and younger than Lilith, but something about her made her seem mature. It was as if she knew many things, her eyes twinkling with a mysterious spark.

---

---

A New World

---

In Suecester, children live for their fairy tales. When the world is in pieces, when hollow-eyed adults can't even lie to their children about the starving, malnourished dogs on the street, and schools lay out ten year careers in the mines that end in blown off limbs and dying in back alleyways, then of course, any child would turn to the stories of old.

In these stories, then there are happy ever afters. People become doctors and tailors and princesses, and they have a wedding amongst endless fields of green with happy doves darting through the air. The whole world is in celebration; it's in life. There's no such thing as the stagnation of Suecester, where everything seems to be dying without ever living.

It was sad, almost. He recalled that when the first little boy stepped through into this other world, the little slip of a thing wondered quietly if he could be a fisherman. Such bright eyes, full of hope- but yes, pain too. Expecting a no before he'd even asked.

Once upon a time, that would have been a dream too ordinary. Most little boys dreamed of being astronauts and presidents and heroes. It would've been realistic, soft, a real attainable future. But now, it was laughable. It brought to mind images of dead fish floating at the top of polluted lakes, and skinny bears curled up at the edge. Death, death, death.

How the world had changed. Fairy tales were no longer about heroes, but about day to day life. About living.

Life itself had become a dream.

---

Luther Waters
Luther sweated. He had the distinct feeling that the child may be in danger. Theoretically, a fourteen year old should be able to take an eight year old in a fight. But that was only in theory, and did not account for said eight year old being Sofia Arison.

Ah, screw it, he thought, stepping out.

"Sofia, I have an idea. What if we went and got candy from your dad's store? You're too rich for poor people's candy, right? You don't really want this boy's peppermints."

---

Kubo Atsushi
"Guessing games?" Kubo didn't take his eyes off the suspicious person. "Like... riddles?"

He winced, hating himself for how tiny and quiet his voice was; he was supposed to sound angry, not weird and sad. Big sister was right. Riddles were dumb and they didn't mean nothing. Only school was really hard. You could still be stupid and answer riddles.

But...

"Can I try?" he ventured.

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