Broken Adventure
- Thread starter theaceoffire
- Start date
- Crossover
- Status
Rolling dice for Ace with this message that wants more words.
How many rolls and how many faces?
(No really Ace, how many should I put on the dice and the number of rolls?)
(If it's supposed to be the exact number of dice as in Ace's post, use the second poll.
Rolls: 12
Faces: 69
I have no idea what numbers to put in.)
How many rolls and how many faces?
(No really Ace, how many should I put on the dice and the number of rolls?)
(If it's supposed to be the exact number of dice as in Ace's post, use the second poll.
Rolls: 12
Faces: 69
I have no idea what numbers to put in.)
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ProtagNeptune
[Cute is Justice] ଘ(੭ˊ꒳ˋ)੭✧
- Location
- The Local Reality (A Shitty Game)
- Pronouns
- He/She/They
[x] Hmm...
Last edited:
- Pronouns
- He/Him/His
I can follow directions. Probably.
Last edited:
- Location
- Earth U.S.
Time to roll!
- Location
- .... earth
- Pronouns
- He/Him
only being able to roll on an already posted comment is an elegant solution to people who would like to cheat, and not post their roll if it were bad.
also, nice.
also, nice.
- Location
- North Carolina
I hope my roll is negative
Hidden One
Not the Boss, possibly a Playa
- Location
- Sol;Terra;EU;D;NRW
Autobots, transform and roll for initiative!
Also, I like to roll d20s to pick jumps.
Usally either the last 20 I downloaded or a carefully currated list. Does not always result in something writeable but can at least be humorous.
Also, I like to roll d20s to pick jumps.
Usally either the last 20 I downloaded or a carefully currated list. Does not always result in something writeable but can at least be humorous.
. . . . Quick! Before someone else rolls, resulting is skewed results. Someone do some math and see if this actual random roll fest actually randomizes the dice rolls so that the results can be compared to ongoing quests to demonstrate the non-randomness of quest dice rolls vs actually random rolls rolling randomly!
I don't even know how to roll.
Pfft.
Actual random number generation is far harder than anybody is going to bother with for a forum integrated dice roller. At best we're gonna get something that fakes it, and it's close enough since most people don't really understand random anyway, and faking it is good enough for most uses too.
Let me correct your question.
How come do the author manages to consistently post new chapters so frequently, with that quality, length and for so many months, such that the only times he approaches a "normal fanfiction writer" schedule is when he is recovering from an hospitalization.
I mean, is he even human at that point?
(on a side note, I would be curious how do you work in term of writing a new chapter. How much of it is a first draft? How far away are you planning? How much is pure world building improvisation?)
How come do the author manages to consistently post new chapters so frequently, with that quality, length and for so many months, such that the only times he approaches a "normal fanfiction writer" schedule is when he is recovering from an hospitalization.
I mean, is he even human at that point?
(on a side note, I would be curious how do you work in term of writing a new chapter. How much of it is a first draft? How far away are you planning? How much is pure world building improvisation?)
- Pronouns
- He/Him/His
Random.org
It's not, but most algorithms are psuedo-random because that's good enough for most practical purposes. And we should also discuss the meaning of random: uniformly distributed or unpredictable? An important distinction.
When is the next update!
- Location
- Here
Monday I had a major medical thing done. It went well!
Anytime there is a delay, shifting, or canceling of an update I try and post an informational about the situation.
Update will come today as scheduled.
My old works (See signature) were more one update a month kind of thing, or maybe once a week, but with each one being around 5-10k in length or longer. It wore me down.
THIS story attempted to update more often, but to limit each chapter to 2k words or so!
...Though at some point I began to feel like 2k words an update feels a bit lazy, so I tend to aim for around 4k.
And sometimes I get deep into something chewy when writing and it ends up getting around 6k or longer. Thankfully that is rare.
I tend to write my chapters all the way through one time, and then slowly shift it from my reserve documents into the website forum post. Every time I shift my work from one location to another, I do another editing pass to see if I miss something.
I'd say every chapter gets only 1.5-2 passes before publication, then another 2 or so before being shifted to another site.
I try not to plan too far ahead. If I do, I may forget something interesting that happens along the way.
If the story is a string of events leading from one place to the next, I treat each chapter like a pin that can lock a point down securely before reaching for the next.
That way, it is not only easier to write... But more enjoyable. I find myself entertained by the interesting stuff that happens in my works, and find that writing stuff that I enjoy helps encourage me to keep going despite criticism or self doubt.
- Location
- Here
Do you currently have any plans for getting back to those older stories? I have read all of them and hope that you'll one day update them again.
Jordisk
<Unverified N00B>
- Location
- Blind Eternities
- Pronouns
- He/Him/His
Core Threads being the big one (both as the largest story other than this one, and being the one I want to see expanded most).
An Equal distribution on a macro scale, locally unpredictable (every result independent of all other results).
Ex, roll a die a infinite times, and each face will occur close to equally. Look at any given subset and that might not be true and you have no way to know ahead of time.
Arc 4: The helpful mess: A soot of solutions!
- Location
- Here
Time passed strangely here, though it was hard to tell.
Honestly, if Gem and Shadow didn't mostly exist outside of normal reality it would go completely unnoticed. Days could stretch for weeks or seconds, or even flow backwards a bit.
Thankfully, for anyone present and NOT in multiple places outside of existence, it didn't affect your daily life.
For example! When the limbed giant started grinding stuff and altering the water flows from the boiler, it was time to move the coal!
Now, Shadow didn't want to brag… Mostly because bragging was very hard to do in a cool way through interpretive dance, and mouths plus words were hard… But he was getting pretty dang good at moving coal these days! Or day. Or yesterday.
Though it was a bit more tricky than he initially expected.
Too much coal thrown at once blocked the furnace up, and Shadow got yelled at, which was embarrassing.
Also! Stuffing the entire furnace up with coal via the Darkness would put out the fire entirely, which was bad. But while concerning and certainly an issue, Shadow didn't get in trouble for that one thanks to consuming the coal with Darkness before anyone could look inside the thing.
Like, the giants were confused, but basically shrugged their shoulders (Which for the many limbed giant Kamaji was pretty awesome to watch!) and life moved on. And while Gem might have admonished him a little bit, she was a quiet crystal and no one else caught on, so it was fine.
Now Shadow knew the best way to keep the furnace going!
A steady supply of coal through Darkness (At a variable rate based on how fast the soot sprites were doing THEIR own thing), combined with a sneaky bit of [[Growth]], and BAM! Perfect temperatures!
Now none of them had to work as hard to get the best results!
Like, Shadow still carried big lumps of fuel himself of course. Because even with no muscles and twig limbs, he liked to flex a bit in front of Gem. Her amusement was W̻̦ạ̯̺͉̘̺r̹͚̝͙͚̪m͎̗̘̯̳.
So time passed as it sometimes does, and Shadow lifted like a bro and threw in coal to keep the furnace hot and maybe cheated a bit with Darkness to ensure a reliable service even when some of his sillier friends tried to duplicate his amazing work and accidentally squished themselves a little bit for a short while.
Why?
Because Shadow was a professional! The best coal delivery sprite of all time! A peer of the fuel shuffling underworld, a giant among… Well, no one really, in a literal sense. A giant in a more figurative way, at least when it came to moving rocky material several feet in a specific direction and throwing it into a very warm hole.
Gem pulsed giggles.
Fine, Shadow was doing it for the candy.
They were so pretty! Tiny colored spiky stars, mostly sugar, with a hint of some sort of spiritual energy that soaked this entire place to the brim.
Although he only allowed himself to consume a single star a 'day', however long that was here, so that the rest can snuggle up to Gem and keep her company in the Darkness.
It was a bit hard to tell, but he was pretty sure she appreciated it!
Though… After a few looks and sad friends, he had stopped trying to take ALL the candy when snack time came around.
And the one time he attempted to convert Darkness INTO candy went a bit… Odd… so uh, he wasn't going to do that until he got FAR more practice in first. According to 'Research' (Who was REALLY busy these days for some reason, examining Shadow himself and his various new bodies), solidified distilled Darkness was not made out of sugar.
So uh… Work in progress.
Plus, he wasn't sure what would happen to someone who ate these black star 'candies', although they were pretty tasty snacks… Not filling, like empty calories, but super DUPER empty. You could really taste the nothingness though, so occasionally Shadow would sneak a couple of them when eating candy despite Gem being worried about him eating too much.
Probably.
The warm pulses were a bit tricky to translate even for him, and poor Gem didn't have Shadow's sassy body to boogie down a good charade conversation yet. Or a mouth.
Mouths were SUPER hard!
You had to make a tongue too! And some method for passing a gas or near liquidized Darkness out of the thing! And vocal cords!
No WONDER the Darkness snack from the other place infested a host rather than bother with all that junk. Just partially consume a brain and shove your thoughts straight in, WAY easier than talking!
Sigh.
Ah well, Shadow had spent the break times between work shifts practicing a lot and had made some progress towards the linguistic arts.
Primarily? Hissing.
Honestly, a LOT of hissing.
Though now he could change pitch! So it was like… Sort of humming? If a snake was trying really really hard?
Anyway, for now, communication was a bit restricted to glowing, heat pulses, dancing, and very enthusiastic hiss musical attempts.
And for certain bullies or snacks, perhaps a bit of snapping and om nom nom.
Still, Shadow got by. His new friends sometimes danced along with him, and everyone loved throwing coal into the fire… So that was neat!
Plus, Giant Lin was always around a few times each day with the candy, and that was cool too!
Shadow eventually fell into something of a comfortable routine after a while. A bit of a rest, a breather if you will… Even if neither the Heartless nor the soot sprites needed air.
So it came as a bit of a surprise then when some really old giant lady (Well, half giant? The other giants were MUCH more giant than THIS giant!) began throwing tons of tingly snack lights at him.
Woo! Green lights tasted like how purple smelled! Om nom nom!
~~~Broken Adventure~~~
Old witch Yubaba frowned at the strange pink eyed mutant. "And how did it act?" It certainly wasn't a guest.
Boiler man Kamaji stroked his mustache. "Like the other soot spirits. It follows orders, feeds the furnace… If it wasn't for the odd eye color and…" He waved multiple limbs at the tiny strange thing. "Doing THAT all the time, I never would have noticed how odd it was."
She idly flung another low level analysis spell at the creature.
With the sound of snapping charcoal, the tiny ball of soot cracked in half, all four stick limbs secured to the ground, as those bizarre bright pink FANGS sprouted from nowhere… To bite and consume her spell.
Again.
She felt her natural frown deepen slightly. "It's not like any creature, ghost, spirit, demon, or fairy that I've encountered before. Certainly not a Susuwatari, no matter what it currently looks like."
No captured test subject, customer, or book had anything similar either. Her mind, always focused towards greater profits and protecting her darling baby Boh, verified her own memories carefully…
She was honestly proud at how deep and comprehensive her defensive magic was in the Bathhouse, and a failure like this rankled.
Nothing detected by the hostility wards, all the passive sensors either failed to see anything in that spot or flickered between 'nothing' and soot sprites, which were expected to exist down here. It was clearly in some sort of disguise, or a natural shape shifter… But it didn't register on the possession matrix nor the body alteration markers.
The tiny ball of teeth and soot somehow looked like it was begging for another treat.
She flicked a pair of scanning silent incantations… Maybe if she hit it from opposite sides one would get through? Surely she would get something to work with if her spells could just connect to the…
A tiny double crack and TWO massive jaws of pink fangs C̫r̗̼̟̟̳̭u̻ͅn̤c̥͕͙̠͈̪h̥̺̣͔͉e̜͍̗̪̗͎d her attempts.
Her eyes narrowed.
So… It wasn't limited to basic form alterations. That drastically narrowed the near unlimited possibilities… But it also increased the danger.
Still, she was a woman who judged more on actions than on appearance. Anything could bring her profit or better protect her baby, after all. "If it begins to attack, leave." It would be expensive to replace such a competent employee, after all.
Kamaji slowed his movements… And nodded. "Understood, ma'am."
She absently set up a few dozen protection fields and restriction wards, stepping closer. Just because her keen intuition didn't detect danger didn't mean that she should slack in basic precautions. "Good evening."
Tiny pink eyes looked up at her, disturbingly cute despite the deadly jaws hidden away within the poof.
It waved.
Well… At least it seemed to understand spiritual languages? Not all beings could talk after all, and she had to learn how to communicate through spirit and Soul years ago for optimum performance as a business owner. "I am Yubaba, and I own this bathhouse."
Those tiny eyes grew big… And it tried to clap it's tiny stick limbs like hands.
Well, at least it seemed easy natured enough. Probably not any of the revenge spirits or spite monstrosities then. Still may be a twisted nightmare or one of the stranger outer creatures. "I've been told you showed up recently?"
A nod.
Which implied that it actually understood what she was saying and wasn't randomly doing stuff when people talked to it.
Good.
She carefully tasted the power in the air.
Nothing. Still. Whatever this entity was, it left no Soul markings, no magic traces, no spiritual residue… If such a thing normally lived out in the spiritual world, it would be no surprise that they wouldn't bother visiting a bathhouse in the past, not if they didn't exist enough to actually get dirty.
She absently made a mental note to advertise the stress relieving benefits of visiting her lair/kingdom/business. Just because one was always impossibly clean didn't imply they couldn't give her gold and visit her services anyway.
It was even true, to a certain extent… The only reason she didn't skimp on funding her extravagant products and services to save extra coin was because those high operating costs purchased something even MORE valuable and rare: A reputation.
Oh, she still pinched every fraction of currency that passed through her grasp, but Yubaba wasn't so short sighted as to harm future profits for short term gain. That could potentially cause problems for her little baby sweetums!
And keeping him safe was more important than allowing this… This whatever it is, this thing, to stay here if it was a risk. "I understand you work with the other soot sprites to keep the furnace fueled?"
A nod.
The truth detection spell cluster registered as mostly factual, but it was slippery. Only directly in this tiny fluff ball's presence could anything even register anything involving this oddity… Still, it was enough to work with.
She glanced at the door… It was Lin who was in charge of feeding these things, right? Or had her duty rotated over to Carla already? Either way. "You are satisfied working as such? For the pay already distributed at the current rates?"
The tiny black soot ball blinked… And then pulled a tiny Konpeitō candy out of NOWHERE. Pointed at it, and tilted its head.
That hadn't been magic. Nor spatial folding nor subspace pockets. "Yes, for the candy."
It gave a powerful nod… And began doing a very odd dance. Her language deciphering skills were not even remotely up to the task of understanding… Whatever THAT was. No spiritual energy released either, so a translation spell wouldn't work even if it could target this thing without being consumed.
Then it paused, and looked up at her expectantly.
Well, whatever. She'd done more with less. "Then… Perhaps I can hire you." That candy was pretty much scrap and near free anyway thanks to her suppliers.
Popular, yes. Expensive? No. Valuable? Well, to certain people, apparently. Still, no reason not to attempt and gain more benefits from this situation. "Do you have other skills? Other abilities?"
The poof ball blinked, a tiny stick limb tapping thoughtfully where its mouth had been… And suddenly stood tall! It apparently had an idea!
With the tiny crackling of snapped charcoal, it cracked in half… And a MASSIVE eel of pure Darkness slithered out of that tiny impossible space, slightly dissolving due to the lighting down here.
Kamaji stiffened and then quickly moved out of the room even as Yubaba casually shifted the magical defense around for better efficiency.
And she still. Felt. NOTHING! No power, no magic, no mind… Maybe a flicker of some emotion or Soul fragment at best, but as if from a grand distance in terrible weather.
Troubling.
Faster than anything she had expected from a construct this large, the eel tentacle was suddenly touching the boiler… And jaws opened up along the sides, filled with pink fangs…
And began humming?
What was that tune? Sounded a bit festive?
And suddenly, her detection grid LIT UP like a full assault was occuring!
Her mind rapidly followed the analysis patterns… A consecration?
She blanked out mentally as this shapeshifting master of Darkness with bright pink eyes (all over the new tentacle eel) and bright pink teeth (All over… Everything right now) turned and swirled and twisted away before vanishing back into the soot sprite casing.
Yubaba moved her magic over to the… Blessed bath water.
But not like any blessing she had ever contacted before.
It was… non-judgemental. Abstract. Basically conceptual purification, really.
Nothing that would damage her customers, but instead act like a slow cleansing all on its own, no herbs or potions or soaps required! Even cursed and demonic beings could enjoy this odd 'blessing', even followers of unrelated faiths and belief structures!
So.
This fake Susuwatari was apparently an eldritch being AND potentially a priest of a forgotten faith.
In a magical spiritual bathhouse.
She felt her mind struggle for a moment… And gave up. The risks were too high. The potential profit was too desirable.
The old witch would have to do the one thing she hated most… Paying an employee more to keep their services without binding magical contracts. "You're hired. Do that… That whatever you just did to every new order of bath herbs and bath water."
Damn it, she'd feel better about this if she could just steal its name and gain power over it… But how did one attempt to steal a name given via groove moves?
Come on, Yubaba… Focus on the hard part, not on what could have been. You've done this before. Unfortunately. "In return for such services, you shall receive double…" Damn it. "One and a half times more candy than before."
Meh, close enough.
The tiny pink eyes widened with unmistakable glee… And now it was dancing again. Well, as long as it got the job done that was fine, since it was hidden away down here away from the customers.
And technically the candy was practically free in the first place… Sigh.
Whatever. Just consider the extra snack costs to be an investment for unlimited conceptual blessings of all her provided services and a wonderful excuse to increase costs without as many customer complaints.
After all, a happy monster or insane shadow demon working for near free was just good business if it was happy with the situation.
She turned, glancing at a very shocked Kamaji still staring at where all the teeth and eyes and Darkness had just been giving a serenade. "Back to work, the lunch rush will hit in an hour or so."
He kept an eye on the… Whatever it was. Which was probably a good idea, really. "Yes ma'am."
She habitually flicked a monitoring charm to keep an eye on things as she… And of course the tiny black floof ball ate it.
Whatever. "Contact me if it causes any problems or refuses to work properly."
He gave a nod and she left.
Worst case scenario, she'd just have to translocate the business again. Since the tiny creature ate any magic that tried to target it directly, it would get left behind and the issue would be solved.
She'd prefer only relocating in the most dire of circumstances, the process was annoying and costly and disrupted service… But better safe than sorry.
~~~Broken Adventure~~~
Shadow got even MORE candy now!
Though his new friends freaked out a little every time he ripped open his body to use 'Purification' on the bathwater and the various salts and components used. And the big giant multilimb dude was a bit on edge for some reason, and maybe Lin was a bit more twitchy when she threw candy his way, it was all worth it!
More candy! Woo!
Also: Wrinkly old half giant people love to give out bright colored snacks for free!
Shadow made a mental note: Find more wrinkly old giant people! And candy!
Also, after eating a lot of those bright transparent energy treats, the soft glowing stuff in the background was looking a bit T̺̝a̫̫̗s͎̘̘̭͈̟t̯͙͙y̲̙͇͙̮͚̗… But it was probably someone else's treat.
It would be rude to eat snacks belonging to others, after all.
And time sort of slipped by, as it sometimes does.
A significant amount of time.
~~~Broken Adventure~~~
Much candy was earned and carefully saved before something unusual occurred.
It was Gem that first caught Shadow's attention.
Something… Something was off.
It shifted it's tiny soot body out of the way of the ongoing work, and something Dark shifted elsewhere.
Shadow Soot would take care of candy collection, but Shadow Ofadam needed to find where this feeling was coming from.
Because… Something was off in the bathhouse. Something U̻̣̘̙n̠͇̘͇̜͇̫a̱̣̪̱̳̘̬c͎̦͖͍c͍͚͈͚̥̤̩e͔͓̗̯̺pṭa̭b̻̜͍̤ͅl̺͙̙e͍̦͈͓ͅ.
He rarely left his little area with his friends, down in the boiler room… But he had followed Lin and her friends around occasionally, just to explore.
Not sure for how long though… Time was odd in this place, and some decades had slipped by while a few hours had stayed around for a month or so. But this was the first time the bathhouse had tasted this… Shocked. Scared. And, behind the concern and ambient trace elements of avarice and greed, there was another scent that had entered this place.
Something D̫̲ͅẹ̤̙̬l͎͔̩̠̭ici̝̹͎̠̱ͅo͉ṵ̞̺̝s̘̞̙̱͚̙.
Gem pulsed concern as they found devastation on every floor.
Torn curtains, ripped carpets, smashed tables, destroyed chairs.
Smeared food, spilled drinks, lost slippers and abandoned plates and cups.
Without bothering to wait for time to pass or logic or reason, Shadow visited ALL the rooms in the building.
The issue was limited to these seven levels, and near the passage to the eighth was something… Large.
Amorphous, a black substance with a massive drooling maw and repressed distress…
Something full of people.
HIS people.
Shadow's fellow employees.
For a moment, in a space without location and for a duration without time, Shadow stared at the Heart of Lin. The fox yokai who had eventually stopped twitching and making odd sounds when she came to visit his friends downstairs.
The nice lady giant who sometimes laughed with giant Kamaji as he enjoyed his lunch.
The candy woman.
She… She was inside this thing.
She had been eaten.
Well.
Time, formerly paused, slightly C͉̙̫̗̠̙ͅra̜̤̗̫͉̞̝c͕̗̬̮̣k̘̬̳̹̼e̙̬͉ͅd͚.
This… This was not acceptable.
Gem pulsed with concern and agreement. And uh… A bit of reprimand?
Shadow winced but nodded. Right, probably should save all the other spirts and demons and stuff inside this creature too. Not just candy lady and her candy.
Which he was TOTALLY about to do! He just… Just hadn't had the thought yet!
Gem didn't roll her eyes for logical reasons, but he felt the attempt.
At least Shadow couldn't blush.
Then the black mass attempted to shift it's bulk upwards, towards the people Shadow could feel attempting to flee faster and faster.
No.
U̯͕͓̯͈ͅn̝̦̖͙̯̙͈͔͎͖̲a͎̝̥̜̻̬̖̩͓̪̫c̠͓͉͔̘̦̺̞̝̻͎͍͈͍̭̹̦c͖͍̭͖̼̤̙̤̯͇̣̰͔̞̲̼̭͓e͍̘̩͎̮̭͚̫̦̺͔͚̟p̹̮͔͇̙̣̦̮͔̜̪̩̤t̗̳̺̼̲̭͕̞̥̖̰̦̳̮͉͓̜a͔̤͖̱̦͉̦͎͇ͅb̫̰̪̗̮̲͚͔̫͈͕̱̹̫l͖̼̻͓͈̝͉͙͖̙̣̝͖̬e̩̼̳̣̤̜̼̘̮̬̬̩͎̭.
.
.
~~~Broken Adventure~~~
The Kaonashi, or Faceless, the one who could have potentially become No-Face in another time and place, was beyond confused. And, to be fair, this was normally a natural state for the being.
At first, just the ambient emotions had kept it filled. The lust, the avarice, the greed, the desires of an entire subsection of the spiritual world, all condensed and refined into this stew of a place.
But… Something inside desired M̠̤͈̫͈ͅo̩̝͈̮͙̯ͅre̥͎.
The entity physically entered the location, another not face in the crowd, and here… This close, surrounded by capitalism and raw emotions…
Something became tainted by G͇͉͖̜̮r͍͚̦͙e̻͓̦̮̭e̮̲̱ͅd̤͕͕̩.
Just… Just a taste.
A small taste.
That would be fine, right?
It first consumed objects, symbols that others focused their desire towards and soaked in praise and frustration and idolism.
These odd… Bath Tokens.
Some were nearly worshiped by these customers, far too costly and extravagant for their own budgets, and they smelled so good and tasted so… Just a nibble…
Then things got a bit floaty. A bit murky.
One Bath Token became a few. Then, since so many were missing, why not try some of the less valuable ones too? They drew less avarice, but more people in general coveted them. Made them even more filling, but harder to acquire unnoticed since they were interacted with more often.
Things felt wrong, but it was manageable. No-Face didn't get caught, and could feed.
Then… What?
What had happened?
A chance encounter. A small greedy frog spirit frantically picking at floorboards for something tiny, a fragment of… Something metal? One of the mildly tasty yellowish metals.
Something called gold.
This incident had given No-Face the worst of diseases… Curiosity.
Why… Why was such a creature so focused on something like this gold?
It didn't taste good after all, No-Face had been forced to consume all types of soil and rock in bad times before. This stuff didn't attract or repel magic like other objects and materials No-Face had stumbled upon in the past, nor spiritual energy or emotions. Not naturally, not the stuff buried in the rock and soil.
But here, in this delicious place, there was an odd emphasis on the substance. A lust for the material.
Was… Was this processed metal really different from the other types it had consumed in the past?
It didn't smell different.
It didn't look different.
And No-Face had LOTS of this stuff, in raw form, in its massive stomach. Tightly compressed, as all things non-living could be, so that his physical form was more convenient and compact, but his internal storage was full of all sorts of rocks and metals and crystals and dirt and fragments of unsatisfying meals.
So… What was different about yellow metal from THIS place?
It seemed so simple to find out.
Just… Just find a bit of the yellow metal here, in the bathhouse, and consume it.
So basic.
So simple.
So W̯r̩̲͎͇o͕̺̮͎̱̙n͎̝̜g̳̜̼͚͚͉!
Bath Tokens, depending on what they represented, were filling. Enriched with desire and dreams and goals and special moments… All dusted with tasty seasonings of lust and greed and disappointment.
But this?
This gold!?
No-Face had gone blank.
Everybody here wanted this gold.
Everybody here N͍e͓̞̠͓̲̘̤e̺̘̮̲̜͉̗d̦͙̺̦̳e̲̳͓d̲̙̞̹ this gold.
People dreamed of it.
Crowds fought over it.
Worlds were formed through it.
Battles waged due to it.
The greatest of potentials were fueled by it.
The worst of failures were caused by lacking it.
It… It was too much!
No-Face needed M̸͎͖͖̯̼O̘͈̹̗͖̙̰͖͠R͕̱̭̘͖̮͡E̮̤̥͈͈̪͎͞͡!
Finding the tiny frog again, it hastily refined the yellow metal within. Gathered from millions of past consumptions and hungry nights in the dark, it was simple to separate the substance into tiny nuggets of golden material.
Simplicity itself to drop a small portion before the tiny frog, to observe the reaction.
Was it similar? Close enough to this miracle substance worshiped by the multitude dwelling here? Could this gold be used in this place?
The tiny creature blinked at the tiny fragment of metal. "Is that... Gold?" He looked up in fear at No-Face, but not enough terror to run. "Are… Are you giving it to me?"
A nod. "Ah."
And No-Face was shocked and overwhelmed as Ģ̡͔̤͔͠ͅr͏͇̦̟̼̮͔͉͔͖̞̩͟͟ȩ̶̖̟̰̹̣͚͚̰̀e̶̜̤̟̯̼͡͠ḑ̴̨̨̡͉̼̤̳͕͙͍ and Á͔̮͢v̛̖͕̮͈̜̹̳̯a̼͓̺͠r̴̳͎̩ͅi̹̣̟̪̞͉͠ć̛̳e̶̛̬̰͚̪̖̞̺ began to flood the area!
SO MUCH!
From such a tiny being!? From such a worthless substance!? More! It must desire MORE!
A small shower of golden nuggets began to drive the tiny creature mad with longing and shock and eagerness and… So many emotions! SO MANY!
And No-Face was alone.
And slightly more full.
What… What had happened?
Perhaps the frog had left somewhere to safely keep his new gold?
Yes… Yes, that felt right. Logical.
A golden fog was flooding No-Face's thoughts, as it had found a use for that worthless metal from all those unsatisfying past meals.
Hazy memories of lavish crowds, of for one being the center of attention, of being not just a faceless one in the crowd, of being pampered, of shallow love and a veneer of respect. Of casually flinging golden nuggets of metal in all direction, and receiving a buffet of raw power in return!
And an odd source of fear and concern and terror from within?
But such a small thing was overwhelmed by this new ocean of desire and greed and lust and 'Have some more!' and 'This is the finest…' and 'Anything you wish!' and… And…
Now, No-Face felt so many things.
But they weren't the same things.
Many things inside of it were crying, were scared, were afraid, were despairing. And it was delicious, but somehow felt W̰͙r̯̮̼͙̬on͎̬̬͎̯̣g̝̥̺̗̬.
Where had… Where had everyone gone?
There was more emotion now, theoretically more food, but it all came from within, and it didn't taste as good for some reason. More sour and alone and dark and small.
Hadn't everything been bright and laughing and…
No-Face threw more golden metal at the empty staircase. And more.
Enough to cause it to cascade down the stairs, to fall within the damaged floor cracks and make small mounds around its massive body. More than ever given away before!
But nothing changed.
No rush of adoration, no flood of desire, no cheers, no warm smiles…
No-Face was confused.
The sudden Darkness didn't help clear up the issues, either.
What was this? It made it kind of hard to see.
Were those pink spikes? Huh. But why so many?
Oh! New emotions! But they were really hard to feel… Like they were far away, or unfocused?
No-Face smiled and filled its hands with more gold. It would probably work this time!
~~~Broken Adventure~~~
Shadow chewed carefully.
There were a LOT of people in this thing.
It felt like… Like there was a pseudo Heartless forming within this black creature, this Faceless, and it had somehow begun infecting everyone and everything around it.
Or… Or they had been nurturing seeds of Darkness and this new entity, this Kaonashi, had been stained by them?
Still, this was very educational. He was learning all kinds of new things!
For example: It was MUCH easier to C̞̭̮̟̼͓͕o̪̠n̤̜̙̲̹s̱̼̥̦̙̖u̬̫͍̜̻m̳̮̻͈̹̰̥e̹̫̝̺̥̙͓ the Darkness within people than it was to actually devour them.
It wouldn't completely remove bad emotions, cursed desires, and all that, those were just part of living… But this caked on residue? The remains of a lifetime seeking greed and sins and depravity?
Delicious!
Gem pulsed with concern as she watched Shadow carefully separate each of the living entities from the inner storage dimension of this… This odd wraith like spirit that consumed emotions.
As for the wraith itself, it felt more like… Like a symptom rather than a villain.
It was attracted to emotions and was heavily influenced by them. If this was a charity organization that focused on benevolence and generosity, this might have all turned out very different.
Ah well, it would all be fine soon. Though consuming the Darkness from all these creatures and spirits and people was apparently causing them to pass out, they were mostly made out of Soul and magic and spiritual energy and stuff, unlike the last entity Shadow had consumed.
So they should all recover at some point, although the most corrupt and twisted people might take a few days.
As for this odd Faceless thing… Should Shadow just D̵̸̖̣͕̖̪̫͖̹̫̘̜̤̳̙͖́ͅͅę̢̤͔͕͎̬̟̫̤̹̞̀͟v̵̛̥̗͙̜o̙̺̬̟̰̺̥̥̕͘u̵͓̖̙̫̘̗̭̦̼̱̦͚̺̹̤͘͢ͅr̀͟҉͓̩̖̤̣̯̩̻ it, or?
Gem gently pulsed.
Hmm?
Well, alright. If you're sure.
The much reduced wrath was shifted over next to Gem for her to watch over… And it somehow twisted and swirled into a tiny speck and fell within her crystalline surface.
Because apparently she could store entities and keep them close to her Heart. Somehow.
Huh.
Neat!
Shadow blinked as something was… Poking it?
Oh! Small giant boss lady Yubaba! Hi!
When did you get here?
Also… Why are you so small?
~~~Broken Adventure~~~
Yubaba withheld her rage as she watched the mountain of Darkness covered in cheerful pink eyes still ignore her and her magic somehow. "I asked you a question! WHERE did that monster go!?"
She flung another lethal spell which smacked into the creature… And was casually consumed with a happy sound by a new mouth without notice. Very frustrating! I am TALKING to you here!
Oh? Suddenly the many eyes focused on her much smaller form. Was it focused now?
It had fallen into some sort of trance earlier, and she had just managed to return to the bathhouse when the wards had gone off… None of the other employees were coherent right now, and she needed to know what was going on here!
Yubaba absently disabled the remaining containment wards that hadn't collapsed during the unknown disaster earlier. "Where are my people? Where is the dead spirit that caused all this?"
She blankly stared at the massive wall of black Darkness as it cheerfully tried to dance again. Even though it was tightly wedged into that spot on all sides and currently didn't have any limbs.
It was more disturbing than cute when the one boogying some busted funk moves was larger than a building and filling a good chunk of the seventh floor of HER building and business.
With a headache, she held up her hand and stopped the dancing.
Right. She knew better than to ask complicated questions to this particular employee.
Keep it simple.
Yubaba glared at it. "Did you find the monster that was attacking our employees?"
A very VERY wobbly nod.
Alright. Now, step by step: Confirm what the readings had said from the defensive network mesh. "And it had eaten our people? And our customers?"
Another nod.
Damn it. DAMN IT! They were HER people! HERS! How DARE… No. Focus. "Are… Are they alive?" A thought made her blink. Right, she had a reputation to uphold.
Reign in the rage a bit. "After all, It would be expensive to find replacement workers."
It's not like she cared about her people, alright? It was just good business! Just like it was simple company policy to find the entity that harmed her employees and c̖a̝̦͙͓̫̪r͖̤v͓͚e t͉͖̼͖̤ͅh̤̲͓̗͍̖͙e̳̹̣͔͖͎̩̤͖m̞̞̞͇ O͍̥̠͙̪͚̼̹͙̰̤̩̯p͇̟̜͉̠̙̩̘͕̥͍̥̫̠̜̥͇̭e̠̖̮̫͉̰̜͚̬n̹͍̝͔͇̤̳.
.
Her attention was focused on the… Nodding? Nodding wall.
Oh thank everything. "All of them? They are all alive? Were you able to free them from the creature?"
A nod.
Alright.
Alright, she could do this. She could work with this. "If they are alive, I can eventually find a way to handle any other issues they may have."
Witch Yubaba hadn't dedicated centuries of research and magical experimentation for nothing, and if all else failed… Well, there were options.
Right. "Let's go down to an undamaged floor, one of the larger ones for the bigger customers, and get some room to work with." The larger spell matrices would be easier with more space.
Also, she wasn't entirely sure how damaged the structures of the building were at this point… Magic was covering up a lot of issues for now, but until she could spend some quality time repairing this place, being on the upper floors was an unnecessary risk.
The massive black blob of Darkness gave a cheerful nod, dozens of bright pink eyes sparkling with a sense of adventure and that stressful dose of peppiness that was always so tiring to deal with and… nothing.
Another wiggle, a few hissing maws of pink fangs, and… nothing.
She raised an eyebrow. "Problem?"
It wiggled in place.
Oh for… "You're stuck there, aren't you."
For an entity covered in sharp fanged mouths and far too many eyeballs, it was remarkable how sheepish it could act.
Honestly, if Gem and Shadow didn't mostly exist outside of normal reality it would go completely unnoticed. Days could stretch for weeks or seconds, or even flow backwards a bit.
Thankfully, for anyone present and NOT in multiple places outside of existence, it didn't affect your daily life.
For example! When the limbed giant started grinding stuff and altering the water flows from the boiler, it was time to move the coal!
Now, Shadow didn't want to brag… Mostly because bragging was very hard to do in a cool way through interpretive dance, and mouths plus words were hard… But he was getting pretty dang good at moving coal these days! Or day. Or yesterday.
Though it was a bit more tricky than he initially expected.
Too much coal thrown at once blocked the furnace up, and Shadow got yelled at, which was embarrassing.
Also! Stuffing the entire furnace up with coal via the Darkness would put out the fire entirely, which was bad. But while concerning and certainly an issue, Shadow didn't get in trouble for that one thanks to consuming the coal with Darkness before anyone could look inside the thing.
Like, the giants were confused, but basically shrugged their shoulders (Which for the many limbed giant Kamaji was pretty awesome to watch!) and life moved on. And while Gem might have admonished him a little bit, she was a quiet crystal and no one else caught on, so it was fine.
Now Shadow knew the best way to keep the furnace going!
A steady supply of coal through Darkness (At a variable rate based on how fast the soot sprites were doing THEIR own thing), combined with a sneaky bit of [[Growth]], and BAM! Perfect temperatures!
Now none of them had to work as hard to get the best results!
Like, Shadow still carried big lumps of fuel himself of course. Because even with no muscles and twig limbs, he liked to flex a bit in front of Gem. Her amusement was W̻̦ạ̯̺͉̘̺r̹͚̝͙͚̪m͎̗̘̯̳.
So time passed as it sometimes does, and Shadow lifted like a bro and threw in coal to keep the furnace hot and maybe cheated a bit with Darkness to ensure a reliable service even when some of his sillier friends tried to duplicate his amazing work and accidentally squished themselves a little bit for a short while.
Why?
Because Shadow was a professional! The best coal delivery sprite of all time! A peer of the fuel shuffling underworld, a giant among… Well, no one really, in a literal sense. A giant in a more figurative way, at least when it came to moving rocky material several feet in a specific direction and throwing it into a very warm hole.
Gem pulsed giggles.
Fine, Shadow was doing it for the candy.
They were so pretty! Tiny colored spiky stars, mostly sugar, with a hint of some sort of spiritual energy that soaked this entire place to the brim.
Although he only allowed himself to consume a single star a 'day', however long that was here, so that the rest can snuggle up to Gem and keep her company in the Darkness.
It was a bit hard to tell, but he was pretty sure she appreciated it!
Though… After a few looks and sad friends, he had stopped trying to take ALL the candy when snack time came around.
And the one time he attempted to convert Darkness INTO candy went a bit… Odd… so uh, he wasn't going to do that until he got FAR more practice in first. According to 'Research' (Who was REALLY busy these days for some reason, examining Shadow himself and his various new bodies), solidified distilled Darkness was not made out of sugar.
So uh… Work in progress.
Plus, he wasn't sure what would happen to someone who ate these black star 'candies', although they were pretty tasty snacks… Not filling, like empty calories, but super DUPER empty. You could really taste the nothingness though, so occasionally Shadow would sneak a couple of them when eating candy despite Gem being worried about him eating too much.
Probably.
The warm pulses were a bit tricky to translate even for him, and poor Gem didn't have Shadow's sassy body to boogie down a good charade conversation yet. Or a mouth.
Mouths were SUPER hard!
You had to make a tongue too! And some method for passing a gas or near liquidized Darkness out of the thing! And vocal cords!
No WONDER the Darkness snack from the other place infested a host rather than bother with all that junk. Just partially consume a brain and shove your thoughts straight in, WAY easier than talking!
Sigh.
Ah well, Shadow had spent the break times between work shifts practicing a lot and had made some progress towards the linguistic arts.
Primarily? Hissing.
Honestly, a LOT of hissing.
Though now he could change pitch! So it was like… Sort of humming? If a snake was trying really really hard?
Anyway, for now, communication was a bit restricted to glowing, heat pulses, dancing, and very enthusiastic hiss musical attempts.
And for certain bullies or snacks, perhaps a bit of snapping and om nom nom.
Still, Shadow got by. His new friends sometimes danced along with him, and everyone loved throwing coal into the fire… So that was neat!
Plus, Giant Lin was always around a few times each day with the candy, and that was cool too!
Shadow eventually fell into something of a comfortable routine after a while. A bit of a rest, a breather if you will… Even if neither the Heartless nor the soot sprites needed air.
So it came as a bit of a surprise then when some really old giant lady (Well, half giant? The other giants were MUCH more giant than THIS giant!) began throwing tons of tingly snack lights at him.
Woo! Green lights tasted like how purple smelled! Om nom nom!
~~~Broken Adventure~~~
Old witch Yubaba frowned at the strange pink eyed mutant. "And how did it act?" It certainly wasn't a guest.
Boiler man Kamaji stroked his mustache. "Like the other soot spirits. It follows orders, feeds the furnace… If it wasn't for the odd eye color and…" He waved multiple limbs at the tiny strange thing. "Doing THAT all the time, I never would have noticed how odd it was."
She idly flung another low level analysis spell at the creature.
With the sound of snapping charcoal, the tiny ball of soot cracked in half, all four stick limbs secured to the ground, as those bizarre bright pink FANGS sprouted from nowhere… To bite and consume her spell.
Again.
She felt her natural frown deepen slightly. "It's not like any creature, ghost, spirit, demon, or fairy that I've encountered before. Certainly not a Susuwatari, no matter what it currently looks like."
No captured test subject, customer, or book had anything similar either. Her mind, always focused towards greater profits and protecting her darling baby Boh, verified her own memories carefully…
She was honestly proud at how deep and comprehensive her defensive magic was in the Bathhouse, and a failure like this rankled.
Nothing detected by the hostility wards, all the passive sensors either failed to see anything in that spot or flickered between 'nothing' and soot sprites, which were expected to exist down here. It was clearly in some sort of disguise, or a natural shape shifter… But it didn't register on the possession matrix nor the body alteration markers.
The tiny ball of teeth and soot somehow looked like it was begging for another treat.
She flicked a pair of scanning silent incantations… Maybe if she hit it from opposite sides one would get through? Surely she would get something to work with if her spells could just connect to the…
A tiny double crack and TWO massive jaws of pink fangs C̫r̗̼̟̟̳̭u̻ͅn̤c̥͕͙̠͈̪h̥̺̣͔͉e̜͍̗̪̗͎d her attempts.
Her eyes narrowed.
So… It wasn't limited to basic form alterations. That drastically narrowed the near unlimited possibilities… But it also increased the danger.
Still, she was a woman who judged more on actions than on appearance. Anything could bring her profit or better protect her baby, after all. "If it begins to attack, leave." It would be expensive to replace such a competent employee, after all.
Kamaji slowed his movements… And nodded. "Understood, ma'am."
She absently set up a few dozen protection fields and restriction wards, stepping closer. Just because her keen intuition didn't detect danger didn't mean that she should slack in basic precautions. "Good evening."
Tiny pink eyes looked up at her, disturbingly cute despite the deadly jaws hidden away within the poof.
It waved.
Well… At least it seemed to understand spiritual languages? Not all beings could talk after all, and she had to learn how to communicate through spirit and Soul years ago for optimum performance as a business owner. "I am Yubaba, and I own this bathhouse."
Those tiny eyes grew big… And it tried to clap it's tiny stick limbs like hands.
Well, at least it seemed easy natured enough. Probably not any of the revenge spirits or spite monstrosities then. Still may be a twisted nightmare or one of the stranger outer creatures. "I've been told you showed up recently?"
A nod.
Which implied that it actually understood what she was saying and wasn't randomly doing stuff when people talked to it.
Good.
She carefully tasted the power in the air.
Nothing. Still. Whatever this entity was, it left no Soul markings, no magic traces, no spiritual residue… If such a thing normally lived out in the spiritual world, it would be no surprise that they wouldn't bother visiting a bathhouse in the past, not if they didn't exist enough to actually get dirty.
She absently made a mental note to advertise the stress relieving benefits of visiting her lair/kingdom/business. Just because one was always impossibly clean didn't imply they couldn't give her gold and visit her services anyway.
It was even true, to a certain extent… The only reason she didn't skimp on funding her extravagant products and services to save extra coin was because those high operating costs purchased something even MORE valuable and rare: A reputation.
Oh, she still pinched every fraction of currency that passed through her grasp, but Yubaba wasn't so short sighted as to harm future profits for short term gain. That could potentially cause problems for her little baby sweetums!
And keeping him safe was more important than allowing this… This whatever it is, this thing, to stay here if it was a risk. "I understand you work with the other soot sprites to keep the furnace fueled?"
A nod.
The truth detection spell cluster registered as mostly factual, but it was slippery. Only directly in this tiny fluff ball's presence could anything even register anything involving this oddity… Still, it was enough to work with.
She glanced at the door… It was Lin who was in charge of feeding these things, right? Or had her duty rotated over to Carla already? Either way. "You are satisfied working as such? For the pay already distributed at the current rates?"
The tiny black soot ball blinked… And then pulled a tiny Konpeitō candy out of NOWHERE. Pointed at it, and tilted its head.
That hadn't been magic. Nor spatial folding nor subspace pockets. "Yes, for the candy."
It gave a powerful nod… And began doing a very odd dance. Her language deciphering skills were not even remotely up to the task of understanding… Whatever THAT was. No spiritual energy released either, so a translation spell wouldn't work even if it could target this thing without being consumed.
Then it paused, and looked up at her expectantly.
Well, whatever. She'd done more with less. "Then… Perhaps I can hire you." That candy was pretty much scrap and near free anyway thanks to her suppliers.
Popular, yes. Expensive? No. Valuable? Well, to certain people, apparently. Still, no reason not to attempt and gain more benefits from this situation. "Do you have other skills? Other abilities?"
The poof ball blinked, a tiny stick limb tapping thoughtfully where its mouth had been… And suddenly stood tall! It apparently had an idea!
With the tiny crackling of snapped charcoal, it cracked in half… And a MASSIVE eel of pure Darkness slithered out of that tiny impossible space, slightly dissolving due to the lighting down here.
Kamaji stiffened and then quickly moved out of the room even as Yubaba casually shifted the magical defense around for better efficiency.
And she still. Felt. NOTHING! No power, no magic, no mind… Maybe a flicker of some emotion or Soul fragment at best, but as if from a grand distance in terrible weather.
Troubling.
Faster than anything she had expected from a construct this large, the eel tentacle was suddenly touching the boiler… And jaws opened up along the sides, filled with pink fangs…
And began humming?
What was that tune? Sounded a bit festive?
And suddenly, her detection grid LIT UP like a full assault was occuring!
Her mind rapidly followed the analysis patterns… A consecration?
She blanked out mentally as this shapeshifting master of Darkness with bright pink eyes (all over the new tentacle eel) and bright pink teeth (All over… Everything right now) turned and swirled and twisted away before vanishing back into the soot sprite casing.
Yubaba moved her magic over to the… Blessed bath water.
But not like any blessing she had ever contacted before.
It was… non-judgemental. Abstract. Basically conceptual purification, really.
Nothing that would damage her customers, but instead act like a slow cleansing all on its own, no herbs or potions or soaps required! Even cursed and demonic beings could enjoy this odd 'blessing', even followers of unrelated faiths and belief structures!
So.
This fake Susuwatari was apparently an eldritch being AND potentially a priest of a forgotten faith.
In a magical spiritual bathhouse.
She felt her mind struggle for a moment… And gave up. The risks were too high. The potential profit was too desirable.
The old witch would have to do the one thing she hated most… Paying an employee more to keep their services without binding magical contracts. "You're hired. Do that… That whatever you just did to every new order of bath herbs and bath water."
Damn it, she'd feel better about this if she could just steal its name and gain power over it… But how did one attempt to steal a name given via groove moves?
Come on, Yubaba… Focus on the hard part, not on what could have been. You've done this before. Unfortunately. "In return for such services, you shall receive double…" Damn it. "One and a half times more candy than before."
Meh, close enough.
The tiny pink eyes widened with unmistakable glee… And now it was dancing again. Well, as long as it got the job done that was fine, since it was hidden away down here away from the customers.
And technically the candy was practically free in the first place… Sigh.
Whatever. Just consider the extra snack costs to be an investment for unlimited conceptual blessings of all her provided services and a wonderful excuse to increase costs without as many customer complaints.
After all, a happy monster or insane shadow demon working for near free was just good business if it was happy with the situation.
She turned, glancing at a very shocked Kamaji still staring at where all the teeth and eyes and Darkness had just been giving a serenade. "Back to work, the lunch rush will hit in an hour or so."
He kept an eye on the… Whatever it was. Which was probably a good idea, really. "Yes ma'am."
She habitually flicked a monitoring charm to keep an eye on things as she… And of course the tiny black floof ball ate it.
Whatever. "Contact me if it causes any problems or refuses to work properly."
He gave a nod and she left.
Worst case scenario, she'd just have to translocate the business again. Since the tiny creature ate any magic that tried to target it directly, it would get left behind and the issue would be solved.
She'd prefer only relocating in the most dire of circumstances, the process was annoying and costly and disrupted service… But better safe than sorry.
~~~Broken Adventure~~~
Shadow got even MORE candy now!
Though his new friends freaked out a little every time he ripped open his body to use 'Purification' on the bathwater and the various salts and components used. And the big giant multilimb dude was a bit on edge for some reason, and maybe Lin was a bit more twitchy when she threw candy his way, it was all worth it!
More candy! Woo!
Also: Wrinkly old half giant people love to give out bright colored snacks for free!
Shadow made a mental note: Find more wrinkly old giant people! And candy!
Also, after eating a lot of those bright transparent energy treats, the soft glowing stuff in the background was looking a bit T̺̝a̫̫̗s͎̘̘̭͈̟t̯͙͙y̲̙͇͙̮͚̗… But it was probably someone else's treat.
It would be rude to eat snacks belonging to others, after all.
And time sort of slipped by, as it sometimes does.
A significant amount of time.
~~~Broken Adventure~~~
Much candy was earned and carefully saved before something unusual occurred.
It was Gem that first caught Shadow's attention.
Something… Something was off.
It shifted it's tiny soot body out of the way of the ongoing work, and something Dark shifted elsewhere.
Shadow Soot would take care of candy collection, but Shadow Ofadam needed to find where this feeling was coming from.
Because… Something was off in the bathhouse. Something U̻̣̘̙n̠͇̘͇̜͇̫a̱̣̪̱̳̘̬c͎̦͖͍c͍͚͈͚̥̤̩e͔͓̗̯̺pṭa̭b̻̜͍̤ͅl̺͙̙e͍̦͈͓ͅ.
He rarely left his little area with his friends, down in the boiler room… But he had followed Lin and her friends around occasionally, just to explore.
Not sure for how long though… Time was odd in this place, and some decades had slipped by while a few hours had stayed around for a month or so. But this was the first time the bathhouse had tasted this… Shocked. Scared. And, behind the concern and ambient trace elements of avarice and greed, there was another scent that had entered this place.
Something D̫̲ͅẹ̤̙̬l͎͔̩̠̭ici̝̹͎̠̱ͅo͉ṵ̞̺̝s̘̞̙̱͚̙.
Gem pulsed concern as they found devastation on every floor.
Torn curtains, ripped carpets, smashed tables, destroyed chairs.
Smeared food, spilled drinks, lost slippers and abandoned plates and cups.
Without bothering to wait for time to pass or logic or reason, Shadow visited ALL the rooms in the building.
The issue was limited to these seven levels, and near the passage to the eighth was something… Large.
Amorphous, a black substance with a massive drooling maw and repressed distress…
Something full of people.
HIS people.
Shadow's fellow employees.
For a moment, in a space without location and for a duration without time, Shadow stared at the Heart of Lin. The fox yokai who had eventually stopped twitching and making odd sounds when she came to visit his friends downstairs.
The nice lady giant who sometimes laughed with giant Kamaji as he enjoyed his lunch.
The candy woman.
She… She was inside this thing.
She had been eaten.
Well.
Time, formerly paused, slightly C͉̙̫̗̠̙ͅra̜̤̗̫͉̞̝c͕̗̬̮̣k̘̬̳̹̼e̙̬͉ͅd͚.
This… This was not acceptable.
Gem pulsed with concern and agreement. And uh… A bit of reprimand?
Shadow winced but nodded. Right, probably should save all the other spirts and demons and stuff inside this creature too. Not just candy lady and her candy.
Which he was TOTALLY about to do! He just… Just hadn't had the thought yet!
Gem didn't roll her eyes for logical reasons, but he felt the attempt.
At least Shadow couldn't blush.
Then the black mass attempted to shift it's bulk upwards, towards the people Shadow could feel attempting to flee faster and faster.
No.
U̯͕͓̯͈ͅn̝̦̖͙̯̙͈͔͎͖̲a͎̝̥̜̻̬̖̩͓̪̫c̠͓͉͔̘̦̺̞̝̻͎͍͈͍̭̹̦c͖͍̭͖̼̤̙̤̯͇̣̰͔̞̲̼̭͓e͍̘̩͎̮̭͚̫̦̺͔͚̟p̹̮͔͇̙̣̦̮͔̜̪̩̤t̗̳̺̼̲̭͕̞̥̖̰̦̳̮͉͓̜a͔̤͖̱̦͉̦͎͇ͅb̫̰̪̗̮̲͚͔̫͈͕̱̹̫l͖̼̻͓͈̝͉͙͖̙̣̝͖̬e̩̼̳̣̤̜̼̘̮̬̬̩͎̭.
.
.
~~~Broken Adventure~~~
The Kaonashi, or Faceless, the one who could have potentially become No-Face in another time and place, was beyond confused. And, to be fair, this was normally a natural state for the being.
At first, just the ambient emotions had kept it filled. The lust, the avarice, the greed, the desires of an entire subsection of the spiritual world, all condensed and refined into this stew of a place.
But… Something inside desired M̠̤͈̫͈ͅo̩̝͈̮͙̯ͅre̥͎.
The entity physically entered the location, another not face in the crowd, and here… This close, surrounded by capitalism and raw emotions…
Something became tainted by G͇͉͖̜̮r͍͚̦͙e̻͓̦̮̭e̮̲̱ͅd̤͕͕̩.
Just… Just a taste.
A small taste.
That would be fine, right?
It first consumed objects, symbols that others focused their desire towards and soaked in praise and frustration and idolism.
These odd… Bath Tokens.
Some were nearly worshiped by these customers, far too costly and extravagant for their own budgets, and they smelled so good and tasted so… Just a nibble…
Then things got a bit floaty. A bit murky.
One Bath Token became a few. Then, since so many were missing, why not try some of the less valuable ones too? They drew less avarice, but more people in general coveted them. Made them even more filling, but harder to acquire unnoticed since they were interacted with more often.
Things felt wrong, but it was manageable. No-Face didn't get caught, and could feed.
Then… What?
What had happened?
A chance encounter. A small greedy frog spirit frantically picking at floorboards for something tiny, a fragment of… Something metal? One of the mildly tasty yellowish metals.
Something called gold.
This incident had given No-Face the worst of diseases… Curiosity.
Why… Why was such a creature so focused on something like this gold?
It didn't taste good after all, No-Face had been forced to consume all types of soil and rock in bad times before. This stuff didn't attract or repel magic like other objects and materials No-Face had stumbled upon in the past, nor spiritual energy or emotions. Not naturally, not the stuff buried in the rock and soil.
But here, in this delicious place, there was an odd emphasis on the substance. A lust for the material.
Was… Was this processed metal really different from the other types it had consumed in the past?
It didn't smell different.
It didn't look different.
And No-Face had LOTS of this stuff, in raw form, in its massive stomach. Tightly compressed, as all things non-living could be, so that his physical form was more convenient and compact, but his internal storage was full of all sorts of rocks and metals and crystals and dirt and fragments of unsatisfying meals.
So… What was different about yellow metal from THIS place?
It seemed so simple to find out.
Just… Just find a bit of the yellow metal here, in the bathhouse, and consume it.
So basic.
So simple.
So W̯r̩̲͎͇o͕̺̮͎̱̙n͎̝̜g̳̜̼͚͚͉!
Bath Tokens, depending on what they represented, were filling. Enriched with desire and dreams and goals and special moments… All dusted with tasty seasonings of lust and greed and disappointment.
But this?
This gold!?
No-Face had gone blank.
Everybody here wanted this gold.
Everybody here N͍e͓̞̠͓̲̘̤e̺̘̮̲̜͉̗d̦͙̺̦̳e̲̳͓d̲̙̞̹ this gold.
People dreamed of it.
Crowds fought over it.
Worlds were formed through it.
Battles waged due to it.
The greatest of potentials were fueled by it.
The worst of failures were caused by lacking it.
It… It was too much!
No-Face needed M̸͎͖͖̯̼O̘͈̹̗͖̙̰͖͠R͕̱̭̘͖̮͡E̮̤̥͈͈̪͎͞͡!
Finding the tiny frog again, it hastily refined the yellow metal within. Gathered from millions of past consumptions and hungry nights in the dark, it was simple to separate the substance into tiny nuggets of golden material.
Simplicity itself to drop a small portion before the tiny frog, to observe the reaction.
Was it similar? Close enough to this miracle substance worshiped by the multitude dwelling here? Could this gold be used in this place?
The tiny creature blinked at the tiny fragment of metal. "Is that... Gold?" He looked up in fear at No-Face, but not enough terror to run. "Are… Are you giving it to me?"
A nod. "Ah."
And No-Face was shocked and overwhelmed as Ģ̡͔̤͔͠ͅr͏͇̦̟̼̮͔͉͔͖̞̩͟͟ȩ̶̖̟̰̹̣͚͚̰̀e̶̜̤̟̯̼͡͠ḑ̴̨̨̡͉̼̤̳͕͙͍ and Á͔̮͢v̛̖͕̮͈̜̹̳̯a̼͓̺͠r̴̳͎̩ͅi̹̣̟̪̞͉͠ć̛̳e̶̛̬̰͚̪̖̞̺ began to flood the area!
SO MUCH!
From such a tiny being!? From such a worthless substance!? More! It must desire MORE!
A small shower of golden nuggets began to drive the tiny creature mad with longing and shock and eagerness and… So many emotions! SO MANY!
And No-Face was alone.
And slightly more full.
What… What had happened?
Perhaps the frog had left somewhere to safely keep his new gold?
Yes… Yes, that felt right. Logical.
A golden fog was flooding No-Face's thoughts, as it had found a use for that worthless metal from all those unsatisfying past meals.
Hazy memories of lavish crowds, of for one being the center of attention, of being not just a faceless one in the crowd, of being pampered, of shallow love and a veneer of respect. Of casually flinging golden nuggets of metal in all direction, and receiving a buffet of raw power in return!
And an odd source of fear and concern and terror from within?
But such a small thing was overwhelmed by this new ocean of desire and greed and lust and 'Have some more!' and 'This is the finest…' and 'Anything you wish!' and… And…
Now, No-Face felt so many things.
But they weren't the same things.
Many things inside of it were crying, were scared, were afraid, were despairing. And it was delicious, but somehow felt W̰͙r̯̮̼͙̬on͎̬̬͎̯̣g̝̥̺̗̬.
Where had… Where had everyone gone?
There was more emotion now, theoretically more food, but it all came from within, and it didn't taste as good for some reason. More sour and alone and dark and small.
Hadn't everything been bright and laughing and…
No-Face threw more golden metal at the empty staircase. And more.
Enough to cause it to cascade down the stairs, to fall within the damaged floor cracks and make small mounds around its massive body. More than ever given away before!
But nothing changed.
No rush of adoration, no flood of desire, no cheers, no warm smiles…
No-Face was confused.
The sudden Darkness didn't help clear up the issues, either.
What was this? It made it kind of hard to see.
Were those pink spikes? Huh. But why so many?
Oh! New emotions! But they were really hard to feel… Like they were far away, or unfocused?
No-Face smiled and filled its hands with more gold. It would probably work this time!
~~~Broken Adventure~~~
Shadow chewed carefully.
There were a LOT of people in this thing.
It felt like… Like there was a pseudo Heartless forming within this black creature, this Faceless, and it had somehow begun infecting everyone and everything around it.
Or… Or they had been nurturing seeds of Darkness and this new entity, this Kaonashi, had been stained by them?
Still, this was very educational. He was learning all kinds of new things!
For example: It was MUCH easier to C̞̭̮̟̼͓͕o̪̠n̤̜̙̲̹s̱̼̥̦̙̖u̬̫͍̜̻m̳̮̻͈̹̰̥e̹̫̝̺̥̙͓ the Darkness within people than it was to actually devour them.
It wouldn't completely remove bad emotions, cursed desires, and all that, those were just part of living… But this caked on residue? The remains of a lifetime seeking greed and sins and depravity?
Delicious!
Gem pulsed with concern as she watched Shadow carefully separate each of the living entities from the inner storage dimension of this… This odd wraith like spirit that consumed emotions.
As for the wraith itself, it felt more like… Like a symptom rather than a villain.
It was attracted to emotions and was heavily influenced by them. If this was a charity organization that focused on benevolence and generosity, this might have all turned out very different.
Ah well, it would all be fine soon. Though consuming the Darkness from all these creatures and spirits and people was apparently causing them to pass out, they were mostly made out of Soul and magic and spiritual energy and stuff, unlike the last entity Shadow had consumed.
So they should all recover at some point, although the most corrupt and twisted people might take a few days.
As for this odd Faceless thing… Should Shadow just D̵̸̖̣͕̖̪̫͖̹̫̘̜̤̳̙͖́ͅͅę̢̤͔͕͎̬̟̫̤̹̞̀͟v̵̛̥̗͙̜o̙̺̬̟̰̺̥̥̕͘u̵͓̖̙̫̘̗̭̦̼̱̦͚̺̹̤͘͢ͅr̀͟҉͓̩̖̤̣̯̩̻ it, or?
Gem gently pulsed.
Hmm?
Well, alright. If you're sure.
The much reduced wrath was shifted over next to Gem for her to watch over… And it somehow twisted and swirled into a tiny speck and fell within her crystalline surface.
Because apparently she could store entities and keep them close to her Heart. Somehow.
Huh.
Neat!
Shadow blinked as something was… Poking it?
Oh! Small giant boss lady Yubaba! Hi!
When did you get here?
Also… Why are you so small?
~~~Broken Adventure~~~
Yubaba withheld her rage as she watched the mountain of Darkness covered in cheerful pink eyes still ignore her and her magic somehow. "I asked you a question! WHERE did that monster go!?"
She flung another lethal spell which smacked into the creature… And was casually consumed with a happy sound by a new mouth without notice. Very frustrating! I am TALKING to you here!
Oh? Suddenly the many eyes focused on her much smaller form. Was it focused now?
It had fallen into some sort of trance earlier, and she had just managed to return to the bathhouse when the wards had gone off… None of the other employees were coherent right now, and she needed to know what was going on here!
Yubaba absently disabled the remaining containment wards that hadn't collapsed during the unknown disaster earlier. "Where are my people? Where is the dead spirit that caused all this?"
She blankly stared at the massive wall of black Darkness as it cheerfully tried to dance again. Even though it was tightly wedged into that spot on all sides and currently didn't have any limbs.
It was more disturbing than cute when the one boogying some busted funk moves was larger than a building and filling a good chunk of the seventh floor of HER building and business.
With a headache, she held up her hand and stopped the dancing.
Right. She knew better than to ask complicated questions to this particular employee.
Keep it simple.
Yubaba glared at it. "Did you find the monster that was attacking our employees?"
A very VERY wobbly nod.
Alright. Now, step by step: Confirm what the readings had said from the defensive network mesh. "And it had eaten our people? And our customers?"
Another nod.
Damn it. DAMN IT! They were HER people! HERS! How DARE… No. Focus. "Are… Are they alive?" A thought made her blink. Right, she had a reputation to uphold.
Reign in the rage a bit. "After all, It would be expensive to find replacement workers."
It's not like she cared about her people, alright? It was just good business! Just like it was simple company policy to find the entity that harmed her employees and c̖a̝̦͙͓̫̪r͖̤v͓͚e t͉͖̼͖̤ͅh̤̲͓̗͍̖͙e̳̹̣͔͖͎̩̤͖m̞̞̞͇ O͍̥̠͙̪͚̼̹͙̰̤̩̯p͇̟̜͉̠̙̩̘͕̥͍̥̫̠̜̥͇̭e̠̖̮̫͉̰̜͚̬n̹͍̝͔͇̤̳.
.
Her attention was focused on the… Nodding? Nodding wall.
Oh thank everything. "All of them? They are all alive? Were you able to free them from the creature?"
A nod.
Alright.
Alright, she could do this. She could work with this. "If they are alive, I can eventually find a way to handle any other issues they may have."
Witch Yubaba hadn't dedicated centuries of research and magical experimentation for nothing, and if all else failed… Well, there were options.
Right. "Let's go down to an undamaged floor, one of the larger ones for the bigger customers, and get some room to work with." The larger spell matrices would be easier with more space.
Also, she wasn't entirely sure how damaged the structures of the building were at this point… Magic was covering up a lot of issues for now, but until she could spend some quality time repairing this place, being on the upper floors was an unnecessary risk.
The massive black blob of Darkness gave a cheerful nod, dozens of bright pink eyes sparkling with a sense of adventure and that stressful dose of peppiness that was always so tiring to deal with and… nothing.
Another wiggle, a few hissing maws of pink fangs, and… nothing.
She raised an eyebrow. "Problem?"
It wiggled in place.
Oh for… "You're stuck there, aren't you."
For an entity covered in sharp fanged mouths and far too many eyeballs, it was remarkable how sheepish it could act.
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We Just Write
Blatantly Plural
- Location
- New England
- Pronouns
- Plural
Z: Shadow has found Employment.
- Status