Chapter 1: I: Birth
Summary:
1x1x1x1 is "born"
Notes:
"Good child, good child, you’re a very good child
Go to sleep forever like the good child you are
I’ll give you good dreams forever and ever
I’ll always be with you up until you die"- Chapter song: Good Child and the Mysterious fox Spirit- Kikuo
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
The first thing it ever remembers seeing was a glow of light yellow peeking through its eyelids. Divine light, or so it had been told. It was supposedly born into the Robloxia paradise after all.
It was also very aware that the moment it was “born” for lack of a better word, it already had a great deal of consciousness. It was aware that it didn't exist before the moment it opened its eyes. In many ways, it was not much of a newborn, but rather, it was more like a small child. It looked like a small child, and it was probably capable of acting like a small child. And yet, still like a newborn, it held the purest form of innocence there was. The form of innocence that comes from not even knowing the concept of bad and evil. The rawest form of bliss known to mankind.
After it finished focusing on the light, it began focusing on its other senses. It felt the dryness of its tongue in its mouth. It felt the light gently burning its face. It felt the strands of hair that were tickling its button nose. It felt a hand rummaging through its hair, a feathered arm that ever so occasionally pulled away, just to begin again. It felt like it was laying on some soft surface, some kind of cloth. A kind of cloth that was probably woven by the gods themselves. Once their eyes adjusted, it was able to look at the person who caressed them gently more carefully. The entity had short, curly hair, yellow skin with an almost golden sheen to it, hazel eyes with an intense glare that held no remorse, and a black cloak, which included a hood, that was seemingly the surface it found itself laying on its first seconds of life. Despite the fact that the person's glare was one that indicated that they should be forced to reckon with, it still found solace with it. It didn't even truly understand that there was such a thing as reckoning with people after all.
When it first saw the figure, it didn't understand anything. It just thought that this person would spend their time near it. At first, by “near it” it thought that the figure would become a guidance figure. Someone out there to help it grow. A nurturer. What it would learn to know was called a father.
The figure kept messing with its hair “You’re my creation” they stated sternly. Those would be the first words it would ever hear
It would learn to know some day that fathers don't usually call their kids creations. At least based on all the tv it watched. To fathers, their offspring was always their sons, their daughters, their children. It just brushed it off at first, thinking it was just a quirk of this figure.
(it would turn out to be so wrong)
(oh. So very wrong)
This. This was its very first memory. Sitting in the paradise of the robloxian gods, being caressed gently by an ethereal figure that it would learn was named Telamon, but it would insist to call it “Papa”. This figure would eventually go by another name once the worst was over. To those around him know, he was “Shedlesky”, and he was nothing more than any other mortal man
.
.
.
What was its name?
It. it never really had a name. Unlike other children, it wasn't given one once it was “born”. It was addressed by many things, but it was clear that none of them were “true names”.
It would only gain a name once more people, the general public, wanted to talk about it. Once they became aware it insisted. Once it stopped hiding. Once they wanted to express their feelings about it. When everything was at its worst. At its very worst
“A creature of the 4th dimension that swore to destroy everything that was 3d” they would say.
“The most evil entity of all of Robloxia” they would say
“1x1x1x1” they would say
1x1x1x1.
That was the only name it got.
Notes:
this is like setting the soil in order to allow an area for all my plants to grown and bloom and blossom. The plants in question being a lot. a lot of angst. This might be the shortest chapter, but also one of the more important ones.
all the flashback chapters will have 1x1x1x1 referring to themselves it/its and using no name whatsoever, while anything that happens in present day will alternate between he/she/they in that order. This is also intentional. Its like. Trying to separate yourself from who you used to be.
This is the most wholesome of the flashback chapters. everything is downhill from here
Chapter 2: II: Unfamiliarity
Summary:
Everyone's first day at forsaking. 1x1x1x1 meets one of their fellow housemates
Notes:
The song I picked from this chapter was ummmm 1x chase theme so i dont have any lyircs to put here oops ;-;
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
All…All of that. All of that was in the past now though. It shoul-
Fuck.
It's ok. There’s just a … need to break that… “old habit”
Lets see… ah… why not use he right now instead?
Yeah… yeah.. He.. that sounds good
What was he saying again?
Oh right, the present.
As far as he was aware right now, the days of terrorizing the general populus of Robloxia were over. For like. Forever. Cause well. He didn't. Truly know where he was. He didn't know how he got here which was weird to say the least, cause his memory is usually great. But the point is. He woke up after what seemed like an eternity to some guy named Specter telling him that they had work to do and that he needed to get out of bed and get battle ready this instant. Next thing he knew he found himself in a shoddy, yet incredibly big cabin that seemed to have an endless amount of rather small, shitty rooms. Despite the space however, about only 5 of the rooms seemed to be occupied, as far as he was aware. One of the rooms occupied was his, as the specter gave him his room key and pushed him inside and told him rather swiftly "don't get too comfortable just yet, the games will start soon”. Then the Specter just promptly vanished, and he left 1x1x1x1 with nothing but a key in his hand, a room that was now his,at least four other cabinmates he knew nothing about, and a pit in his stomach that… something was going to happen soon.
He opened the room, and he found it barren. Just a pair of swords laying against the wall, a mattress in the ground and a closet to the side. He scoffed. What a homely atmosphere.
1x1x1x1 opened the closet to find a nice array of plain t-shirts, pants and coats. Nothing too special. Just anything that would make you look like any other average joe. Absolutely disgusting. Luckily for him, tucked away in the corner, was a sewing kit, so at least some alterations could be made to make them feel more like him. The jackets could probably become capes and shawls with enough work and he could fashion the shirts and the pants to make it look like the clothes of the characters he used to idolize on the tv. How hard could it be? He used to sew his own stuffed animals so it's not like it was anything unfamiliar to him.
He had finished unsewing one or two of the coats when he heard a knock at the door. Thinking it was the Specter, he got up from the ground and went to open the door. To his surprise however, it was not the specter that greeted him, but rather a different person. A mostly red kind of malformed creature with patches of fur and a pair of horns with an accompanying tail. Apart from that it had a black wristband, a pair of stained, tattered blue jean shorts, and the words “Join team coolkid today!” branded on its chest . Despite all of this however, the creature looked young. To 1x1x1x1, it looked like a vermin
“Good morning!” The creature said, voice slightly distorted, but it sounded like that of a young boy. “ I was just going around and introducing myself to my new roomies cause I heard from my dad that it was a nice thing to do when meeting new people. My name is Coolkid! My room is right across yours! It's so very nice to meet you. What's your name?”
1x1x1x1 scoffed mentally. Who did this kid think he was, being so unfazed by his presence despite him probably at least being aware of what 1x1x1x1 had done back in those days? Why was his dad so bad with naming stuff, assuming he was the one who named him? What kind of name is Coolkid anyways?.... Wait, he shouldn't be talking about that because his own name is …. um…. Nevermind
“1x1x1x1” he said sternly, showing very well he had not much intent continuing this conversation any longer, but yet, the vermin persisted
“Woah!! And I thought I was the only one with a weird name here!” The kid chirped “The other guys I've talked to so far all had normal names. But they're not really normal per se ya know? Neither of them were big talkers. They preferred to write stuff down instead. There's still one more person I haven't seen… Well I think it was one more person but I'm not sure ... .The point is, I haven't talked to them yet but, ya know, they could be a bob or something!” There was a pause, like Coolkid expected for 1x1x1x1 to contribute something to the conversation, but once it became clear none of that would be happening, Coolkid began talking again.
“Anyways, I'm not sure where my dad is right now, but I hope I see him soon! It's been… a bit since I saw him. I don’t remember why, but the specter told me I would see him soon, so I'm ready to see him soon! He didn't tell me at what time though… Do you know anything more than I do?”
“The specter told me no more shit that he told you”
“My dad told me that's a bad word and that you shouldn't say it, but anyways, that's kinda sad. I was hoping the adults here knew more than I did, but it seems not… you are an adult, right?”
He was getting tired of this kid's dad being mentioned.“...I guess.”
“Guess sometimes nobody knows anything, huh.” The kid said, almost bewildered. “Either way, if you ever feel like you need a friend to talk to, you come to me, ok? I'm always willing to fool around and play some games! Doesn't look like we're leaving soon, so we have to make do with what we have with us!”
“...ok” was all he could say. Gods, he found him anoying as fuck, but there was no way he could be mean to the kids face
“Well then, I’ll see you later….. Um-.... are you a Mr. or a Ms.?”
“....whichever one you see me as, I guess” He didn't really care. Frankly 1x1x1x1 was just glad this kid had enough sympathy to treat him as a person.
“...Ok! I'll figure it out later then! For right now, goodbye Mr. or Ms. 1x1x1x1!” and with that, the kid went to the next door and started knocking, probably to signal to the next victim of his ramblings that he was now here. 1x1x1x1 just stood there. Considering the fact that the kid said that 2 of the other guys here weren't really that much of talkers and he didn't even know what the other guy was like, and he didn't even know where this kid’s dad was, worst case scenario he would have to become responsible for that vermin. It's important for kids to not be ignored after all, else they go astray.
He looked at the sewing kit on the floor, and without much thought, he returned to the task in hand, which was sewing the now unsewed coat pieces into a cape, or at least a shawl.
It had been about an hour or so and he had finished sewing the first shawl together right as he heard a knock on the door again. The same tempo as before, so it must mean the vermin was back. 1x put the shawl back on and opened the door to see Coolkid, but instead of the same enthusiastic kid that introduced himself with nothing but a pep in his step and a spark in his voice, the kid looked almost defeated, and also battle worn. He had a black eye and a bloody bandage around his right arm. God knows how that happened.
“The specter says that it's your turn now. He calls it training since it's your first time in the game” The kid said, and he looked at the swords leaning on the wall. “It would be a good idea to take those, actually”
All that 1x did was go and grab the swords in silence and then make his awas out the door, but before he could fully walk away, Coolkid tugged on his arm as if he wanted to say something else
“My… my memory is rather unclear right now but.” The kid mumbled, very clearly trying to keep composed and trying to not break down “But the specter is going to want you to play tag with some other people. People I didn't see in this cabin. However, some of these people are…. They’re really mean. They chose to not play by the rules. They attacked me… but I tagged them back… I think”
1x1x1x1 nodded, now realizing that's how the vermin gained his injuries “thanks for the warning” he stated, and he continued walking onwards. He simply didn't have time to comfort the kid.
And even if he wanted to right now, he wouldn't know how
The specter had taken 1x1x1x1 out of the cabin and teleported him to a new location, an enclosed terrain characterized by mostly grey structures and broken walls, green trees, a dark sky and some areas that seemed fully build, such as little pods that had only one entrance and what seemed to be a small fort in the distance.
“This is Planet Voss” The specter said “This should get you used to the terrain a bit. Let's take it easy for right now” The specter handed 1x1x1x1 a list of 5 names, accompanied with the picture of the person each name belonged too “Your goal is to eliminate all the 5 people here under the set amount of time I allow you.These people are already here, spread out, but they don't know it yet because not conscious right now. Some of them have already been in previous rounds, for others it is their first time here. You will probably be able to tell easily who's experienced and who's not.”
“The vermin told me that this was nothing but a game of tag” 1x stated.
“That's what I like for Coolkid to think. Otherwise he would refuse to play this game. But that's besides the point. Ya think you can do it?”
He looked at the list of names
“Guest 1337
Noob
Taph
007n7
Chance”
“What do I get out of this?” 1x1x1x1 “You have shown no reason to instinctive me. I don't play by the rules. I work solo”
The Specter's eyes narrowed “It's not about the reward, it's about the punishment otherwise. You can choose to keep your consciousness right now and follow along, or you could end up like the killers that refused, and end up blinded and lost even further with an ever worse memory and recollection of things. So… what do you say?”
1x really hated when people held stuff over his head and forced him to make a choice, but he knew for a fact that if he refused he would never get to decide anything at all ever again. It's not like he even cared about these nobodies anyways, to him they were nothing but just pawns in this map. Why would he care if they died? He’s killed people before. They don't matter at all. Nobody has ever mattered to him
“...Im ready”
The Specter smiled, and then promptly teleported out of there. Once he was out, a timer counting down the seconds before the match made itself present, as well as the status of all the survivors that were there. When the timer hit zero, it got replaced with a timer that showed how many minutes there were left before the match ended, and 1x1x1x1 was suddenly allowed to move freely as he pleased. But there was no time to dilly dally. The clock only had so much time. He had to figure out what were the limited abilities he was capable of, and how he was going to go about taking these survivors down. Like Coolkid said, they wouldn't go down without a fight.
Barely 5 seconds into the round and the first thing he heard was about 5 coinflips and then a gunshot sound coming rather close. To his surprise however, all that happened was that the status said that the “Chance” guy was now dead. 1x1x1x1 looked nearby, only to find said guy’s corpse laying on the floor with a destroyed gun in their hand. Did this guy try to shoot him only for their gun to malfunction and they ended up shooting themselves instead…?
“I guess this is what the Specter meant with “you will be able to tell who has experience and who doesn't" huh.” 1x1x1x1 murmured, poking the dead corpse. He also took attention to the timer. Due to the fact this Chance guy was now dead, the timer had actually gone back and now had more time than it originally had. “Huh. I guess that's how you’re able to kill everyone on time” he said.
Whatever the case was, even if this dumbass bought him more time, he still needed to focus. God knows how well the other survivors operate.
The task turned out to become rather, troubling
The next target that 1x1x1x1 had found was a hooded figure which was placing wire inside of one of those round structures and had basically effectively trapped themselves in there while they were just trying to defend themselves. While this person had made an impressive arsenal of bombs and wire inside of the structure, they just stood there, so even though they thought they were so smart for this idea, they were quickly proven wrong when 1x shot both of his projectiles at him, destroying the whole wire structure and triggering all the bombs in there. After recovering from the initial shock of the explosion, it wasn't really long till 1x catched up to the bird man and took him down. He checked the statuses, and found that the guy that was dead was the one named “Taph”.
By then it was about 2 and a half minutes still in the timer. There was relatively plenty of time to deal with the rest of the pests.
…Theoretically, actually. The next one he found turned out to be quite a challenge.
He found two of them wandering along in a group, seemingly having a quiet, yet friendly conversation amongst each other. However, once they noticed that he was near, one of them signaled to the other to either get behind them or to run away entirely.
The one playing hero already looked incredibly worn out, probably because of past matches. Their blue hair was unkept and there were twigs on it, and their uniform was ripped, torn and stained with blood. They seemingly just stood there. And as they stood there, their companion, with yellow skin, a blue shirt and green pants, took the hint and ran off. Whatever. he could probably get to the blue tshirt guy later
1x1x1x1 took the opportunity of this guy just standing there not moving, thinking that they were probably just tired from all the previous matches they had to endure, or that they thought they were a smart cookie much like that Taph guy. He struck, but was actually interrupted by the guy, who pushed his attack back and instead struck him with their own punch instead. They were surprisingly strong for someone that only used their bare hands. 1x1x1x1 could tell how exactly coolkid had gotten that black eye.
It seemed like this guy had probably been in all the matches up to this point, since the way that they dragged 1x1x1x1 throughout the map, able to predict him rather well, and using that to their power to counterattack felt more like learned behavior, learnt for the sake of survival, rather than something that was a natural talent. Mayhaps this guy also had a taste of constant danger even before they got here. It didn't matter anyways, since one can only run away for so long. Eventually, 1x1x1x1 got to them, and much like Chance and Taph, they went down. However, by then, there was only about 1 minute left in the timer, so it means that 1x1x1x1 had to kill someone soon, and he had to kill them fast. They checked the status of the match. The guy that had just gone down was the “Guest 1337” (1x1x1x1 though by this point the entirety of the guest population was dead? Huh… weird). The other two remaining were “Noob” and “007n7”. Noob was the one that was with that guest earlier. Doesn't really matter, both of them look rather… depressing.
1x1x1x1 wasn't sure if he would be able to clutch it, but to his luck however, a person was nearby, hiding behind the wall. Considering the fact that this person was not yellow but rather tan, with bushy hair both on his head and on his face, and a burger on his head, then that means that this person was probably the “007n7”. Gods. they look even more pathetic in person than they did in the picture. But 1x1x1x1 cant sit down and contemplate that, he needs to get a move on. He was quickly on the burger hat guy’s path, and the grown man yelped like a cartoon character and began running as fast as their legs could take them. The man ran in panic, having them loop a tree around 2 times, and when 1x realized that the looping was stupid and that he could just cut him off by running the opposite way, the guy quickly catched up with that strat and then he changed their own direction, went behind a wall, leaving 1x1x1x1’s line of sight, and when 1x1x1x1 saw them again, they….Ran straight into a wall
“Must be another newbie then” 1x1x1x1 scoffed, and began hitting the man with a barrage of attacks, taking advantage of the situation. They just kept running into the wall, like they hoped it was going to open up or something. Soon enough though, they were dead.
1x1x1x1 checked the timer again, hoping to see it had replenished so they could go back to the noob.
He was instead met with a timer that was counting down its last 10 seconds.
He checked the statuses again.
007n7 was still alive.
The last thing 1x1x1x1 saw before the timer ran out was the burger hat man standing behind a wall, looking at him directly, with sweat dripping down his face and a wide eyed 50 yard stare. They had… duplicated themselves? Created a fake them?... Cloned themselves.
1x1x1x1 was so bewildered about how badly they were just playing that they could do nothing but just stand there in absolute shock. Not like they had enough time to get back at them now anyways. When the clock hit 0:00 on the dot, a surge of strong, acute pain traveled through 1x1x1x1’s body, a special kind of pain he had never felt before, and he fell to the ground, only to be knocked out cold.
The last thing he heard before he fell was the specter saying “better luck next time, huh?”
Notes:
Fun fact about this coolkid!: ya know how the specter told 1x that if he doesnt oblige to his deal he would rewire his brain in order to get him to start killing the people? The specter told coolkid the same thing so around that time coolkid was very much aware of what was going on and he was like "no this goes against everything I stand for" so the specter went trough with it and that's why coolkid thinks hes playing tag. But because of that rewiring, his memory got turned to shit and he can not remember stuff that's happening to him that well. So like 2 things happen do to this:1. Each time hes in a match he slowly starts realizing hes killing people like in cannon obviously but when he's back in the cabin ooh shitty memory acts up in the cabin so he can barely remember anything again. So like even if him and 07 have a really wholesome interaction per se when he's back the cabin there's a good chance he would have barely remembered it or forgotten it already 2. Since most of the stuff that he knows for sure is true happened before he made it there (the specter left those memories alone) that in turn makes coolkid cling to the past like he's clinging to the edge of a cliff for dear life cause it's the only thing he can focus on that doesn't make his mind feel so scattered. As such. He misses his old life and 007n7 so badly.
Just wanted to put that out here because I dont think ill ever get back to the angst possibilites of this, atleast in this fic
I still ahve two more chapters I could publish rn but im eepy tired so ya'll will get soon.
Hope yall have a wondeful day!
Chapter 3: III: Relationships
Summary:
after the first flop of a round, 1x1x1x1 finds themselves in the cabin again and tries to do something she usually wouldn't want to do: be around people.
Thanks to this however, she learns more about the people around her and the people in the other side
Notes:
"I just hope that you remember me and
Keep a tender loving memory from
Fallin apart
Fallin apart right from the start"-Chapter song: Tender Memory -DHuesta
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
1x1x1x1 awoke on the floor of the main room of the cabin (the living room? But it hadn’t been lived in yet so did it really count as a living room right now?) after regaining consciousness. She was still rather disoriented, but otherwise still regained all their memory of what just happened. Great. Guess that was what she was going to have to do for a living right now. Whatever. Things could be worse. She could be the one running away and dying over and over again for all she cared.
The cabin was eerily quiet, just as it was at first. No one seemed to be in the living room, so there really wasn't a need to be there. It's not like 1x1x1x1 wanted to be with people in general, but it might be a good idea to just like, you know, get a feel of the people that are around to figure out if there are people she’s just going to purposely avoid. Also, she had nothing to do. The specter didn't tell her to look for anyone after she was done, she didn't feel like sewing, and apart from that, she never really had many hobbies. She… never really had been around people, so if there was something new she could do in this place she had never done before, it was that
She heard some murmuring coming from the downstairs hallways, to where she assumed it was the kitchen, that indicated that there were at least 2 people conversing there. She guessed that might be a good place to start in her exploration journey. She walked slowly, but steady, and due to how quiet the place was, her creaky footsteps echoed to the area.
1x1x1x1 stepped into the kitchen, which turned out to be a rather small humble room, with a tiny kitchen set up with basically just the essentials, the minimum required counter space and a small table that had no more than 3 chairs. In the table was Coolkid, playing cards with a dark haired, dark skinned guy who had multiple tentacle-like appendages and a witches hat. In the kitchen itself, another figure, purple-toned, half skeleton, half technological corruption, cooking something, or better yet described, trying to find something they could cook, as they rummaged through the cabinets in the search for something that was edible.
“Oh! Hi Mr or Ms. 1x!” Coolkid said, taking notice of the new person that was in the room. The kid was now properly bandaged, like someone took care of him and his injuries “Do you wanna sit down? This chair is empty right now. I don't think Noli will use it in a while.”
As much as 1x1x1x1 was beginning to regret her idea, she persisted. She had to go through with what she said, otherwise it would look really stupid if she left the room mid conversation. So she sat down slowly, yet said nothing. The room filled with silence momentarily (except for the sounds of pots and pants being shuffled around), till Coolkid said “ya know, after this round is over you can join us in playing uno!”
1x1x1x1 nodded in silent agreement, as he watched the game play out. She had never played Uno, but had seen others play it and learned the rules from the looks of it. From the looks of it, Coolkid only had about 3 cards while the other participant had 6, but the other guy’s deck was infested with skips and plus twos, so it probably wouldn't be long till the tables turned on the vermin. As the other guy placed a card down on the table, a simple green 3, they spoke gently to his opponent
“You wanna know something kid? So you will save yourself the handful of saying all those words when addressing your friend here? You can just use “Mx.” instead of saying “Mr. or Ms.” It's the gender neutral form of that term, much like how “kids” is the neutral for “boys” and ‘girls” They waited patiently as Coolkid placed a green 6 on the discard pile, looking as shocked as ever “Really? I never knew that Mr. Azure. You’re so wise!”
The other person, Azure, apparently, placed their last non-skip/plus two card cards, a red 6, on the discard pile “I don’t think it's common knowledge amongst the people in general. At least where I came from, knowledge like that was scarce. We didn't really use unifying terms between men and women, boys and girls, because they were regarded as separate and different, kind of like they were different species. The person that taught me that was different. They showed me that truly, at the end of the day, we were all kind of the same after all. They didn't fit that ideal, they had a feeling they were neither. They knew they were different. They were wise in that way. But they were also dumb in some others”
“Do you know where they are now?” Coolkid asked, forgetting to play on his turn because of how invested he was in the conversation “Did something happen to them?”
It was clear to 1x1x1x1 that Azure's gentle smile slightly drooped and twitched at that question, but despite that, they kept their gentle demeanor up as they clearly attempted to sway the conversation away from that “I… I don't know. Nor do I want to know. Not like it matters anyways. But that's besides the point. While Mx. can always be used as the gender neutral form in case we are unsure, at the end of the day, it is up to the individual to choose how they want to be addressed. It's kind of like how I told you you could call me a Mr, Ms Charlatan said that she was, well, a Ms, and Noli said that he didn't want any title in front of his name at all. So.. that means” Azure turned to 1x1x1x1, and 1x1x1x1 realized that this guy also wanted to make an effort to include her into the conversation “Do you have a particular preference?”
1x1x1x1 wasn’t exactly amused about having this question asked to her twice in one day. However, Azure was staring at her with a thousand yard stare as they waited for an answer, and it looked like they weren't going to budge till an answer was given to them (ironically enough, this gave enough time for Coolkid to switch one of the cards he had in his hand with one of that was in the deck, the little cheat). As such, 1x1x1x1 just shrugged and said what she had said before “ Whichever one you see me as. I dont really fucking care much” She stated sternly.
“Understanable. I will remember that” Azure said, and they turned back to look at Coolkid. “So… your play?”
Coolkid slammed a card on the deck so hard the whole table shook more that the cabinets that Noli was rummaging through. Placed down on the table, was a red skip card. “Uno” Coolkid said slyly, and Azure's plan on hitting the kid with a skip plus two combo that would send the normal, average person into hysterics quickly fell apart as the vermin placed his final card down, a red 1. 1x1x1x1 wasn't sure which of those two cards was the one that was switched, but it's not like she even cared, as she felt no need to point out the foul play. They’re all stuck there for god knows how long, a little cheating in a stupid board game was basically nothing.
“I WIN!!!” The kid cheered, and he stood up on his chair proudly, like he had just cured cancer. Even though Azure was bewildered, they took the loss like a champ and just said “That was a good play, I knew you could do it”. They gathered up all the cards again and began to shuffle them “1x, you do know how to play uno, right?” and she just nodded, not knowing what else to say. As Azure passed out the cards, the rummaging of the cabinets stopped, and Noli, who had been previously bound to the kitchen, walked back to the table, seemingly in defeat, as he adjusted his crown….?...halo? Whatever that thing was over his head
“I c0uln’t f-f!nd anything !n that f-ck@ss k!tchen” His voice was even more distorted than that of Coolkids, and 1x1x1x1 had to make an actual effort to understand what the hell he was saying “I-in 0ther worDs: W3 h@v3 no fo0d. Th3r3 is NO gruB in th!s houSe” he dusted his apron, which was one of those corny ones that had “kiss the cook” written on them. It looked fairly new, probably indicating that it was just there in this house and it wasn't actually something Noli owned “Anyw@ys. I’m bOr3-d. M!nd if I w@tCh thIs m@tch pL@y oUt?”
“Not at all!” Azure said “ I'm sure we can get the food situation sorted out. I have some background in botany, so if I can find the seeds lying around this seemingly infinite house, I could maybe cook something up. I could also ask around and see if Slasher or John Doe or Phosphorus or Flowers or really anyone knows anything” 1x1x1x1 did a mental tally of the people present in the room and the people that has been mentioned earlier, and he quickly realized that this amount was way over the 4 people that the specter told him was present.
“Wait a second. I thought the specter only said there were going to be 5 people living here?’ she said suddenly
“th@ts wHat the Sp3ct3r w@nts you t0 thInk.” Noli said, as he and Coolkid inspected the 7 cards that were just handed to, well, Coolkid “F@ck-asz told 3v3ry0ne a separat3 amOunT of p30ple. He t0ld azUre he Wo0ld s-e twO other f0lk. He tOld the K!ddo fIve asw3ll. H3 tolD me I wo0uld hav3 sEveN roomi3es. iM pr3tty sur3 he told Sl@sh3r th@t no oth3r pers0n wo0uld be th3re3, so H3 was pr3tty shock3d when he wEnt t0 the B@throOm onLy to FiNd s0meoNe in ThEr3”
“...So how many people are there anyways?” 1x1x1x1 said bewildered, and she didn't even realize that Azure had shoved her cards in her hand just because of how shocked she was (great. More socialization. This sucked)
“Ive seen everyone I think. I think I counted….17? no....20 folk?...No…. I'm not sure.” Coolkid said “My memory has been… really bad ever since I got here. But, as far im aware, its at least ten people, if not more”
“Fucking amazing” 1x1x1x1 scoffed. “And that's not even counting the fuckass survivors. “
A silence overcame the table, as they all began to reflect on the matches they have had during their day. Like there was at least one person in the survivor faction that had given them at least a little bit of trouble. Once the silence became too uncomfortable, Coolkid was the one that spoke up, even if he spoke in a quieter voice.
“When I was playing the game of tag, one of them walked up to me when I accidentally ran into the wall. They took the chance to strike and they stabbed me in the arm” the vermin was clutching his arm, where the bandage he had seen on it before sat, except that now that 1x1x1x1 looked closer at it, she realized that it was a different bandage than the one from before. It was like someone that knew what they were doing took care of the injury and wrapped it correctly. Something else shifted in the presence of the room, as it felt like the adults realized that this kid truly didn't know what was his role in these killing games, so for right now at least, they would have to play along to his vision of it.
“I r3m3mber TheM.” Noli said. “Th-y T3l3p0rted tO gOd knOws weRe aFter I t-gged Th3m. ThE oTher ON3 thAt PMO wAs thAt blUE ha!r3rd gUesT that s33med t0 l!ke g-!vinG evry0ne a KnuCkl3 S-ndw!tch”
It is as if everyone in the table knew who exactly he was talking about, unlike the mysterious stabber that Coolkid mentioned. A gentle wave of a simultaneous “Yeah…..” filled the room. Once it was quiet again, 1x1x1x1 spoke up. If she felt there was one thing she was good at doing, for some reason, it was being a hater.
“The fucker that I hate the most was that fuckass with a dumbass burger hat and glasses. The little shit caused me to lose a round because he can clone for like no fucking reason.” She spat out loudly. She expected someone to agree and be like “I remembered that guy! I hate that guy” or “ Well I personally don't like this survivor cause xyz”, but rather, she was met with silence. She paid close attention to the demeanor of the people at the table. It looked like Azure’s silence stemmed only from the fact the other two were silent, while Coolkids and Nolis…. Probably came from somewhere else. Either way, in this case, Noli was the first one to speak up.
“BuRg-3r H@t…. W@s tH3 perSOn call3D…007n7 By AnY chn@nce?” He said… rather sternly
1x1x1x1 nodded “Yeah. remember the name as clear as day.”
“Ah… I s33..W3lL. if YoU woul-d exCus3 me. I n33d to uSe th-3 bathr00m right NoW” Noli stated, and before anyone could object, he stepped out of the room. 1x1x1x1 could tell, or at least she had a feeling, that Noli probably didn't like the guy beyond the fact that he may be annoying to deal with, but she wasn't like just going to. Ya know, poke and prod for answers. Not like it mattered right now, because Coolkid looked so bewildered by the name being mentioned that his eyes were wider than saucepans. He stared with his mouth wide open for 3 whole seconds before he exclaimed ‘OH MY GOD. THAT’S MY DAD. ”
Once the realization of what Coolkid just said set in, Azure looked equally as bewildered. “Your dad is… here? With us…? Kinda?”
A pit of shame formed in 1x1x1x1’s throat. Obviously she still stood by the fact that this kid's father had basically driven her into hysterics earlier due to how badly she had been played, and again, she didn't care much about the vermin but. Hearing someone bathmouth someone you love so passionately, must… really… really suck
(Fuck, why did she care anyways? Its not like it fucking matters anyways. She knows what he told him. She knows what he told him. She wasn't supposed to feel this way, not anymore)
“You remember how I talked about my dad, right Mx. 1x?” The kid mumbled, snapping 1x1x1x1 out of their train of thought “well, um I mean , no wait… I talked to Ms. Charlatan about him… or maybe I did talk to you about him? I'm not sure. But I can't believe you found him! You found him before me nonetheless!! That means that there is a small chance I’ll see him again!” he gradually grew more excited, before he calmed down again “....The stuff you said about him wasn't very nice you know… its not very nice to call anyone by those names”
Well. whatever. It was time to accept her mistake.
“...Sorry.” She mumbled “...I’ll… try not to do it again”
“Anyways, I know for a fact that I haven't talked to you about my dad, right?” Coolkid turned to look at Azure “Do you wanna hear about it?”
“Why, why of course!” Azure smiled “If you speak so highly of him, then he would be someone worth talking about, ya know”
“Oh, my god, where do I even start?” Coolkid said “He's like, the coolest dad ever! He has a very warm and friendly presence and he likes to give people like these big warm bear hugs that just make you feel better when you’re feeling sad or sick… When you wake up in the mornings you usually wake up to the smell of fresh pancakes and eggs coming down from the kitchen and the sound of pop music blaring throughout the house… It feels so homely! He's always nice to everyone he comes across,but he is never afraid to say what he thinks, as he's always willing to ward off the bullies! He also let me eat whatever I wanted, which was so cool too! Not a lot of kids get to do that…. Additionally….”
At this point, 1x1x1x1 began to slightly tune Coolkid out, since he wasn't that interested about being in a conversation of some man she truly had no reason to care about, but eventually, something that Coolkid would say offhandedly catched her attention, and momentarily, just momentarily, she would pay attention for a bit just to tune him about again.
.
.
“We used to frequent this pizza place a lot, and it was so cool because I could do whatever I wanted and go wherever I pleased! The security right there was kind of low so maybe that's why… However, the last time I went there was like… a year… ago? I think? Sometimes I wonder why we stopped going”
.
.
“As far as I can remember, it's been just him and me. I know a lot of kids have two parental figures in their lives or maybe even more, but that's not the life I was gifted with. Not like I care though! I would rather have one cool parent like 007n7 than two boring parents like most kids have!”
.
.
“Wah? Do I know what he did before I was born? I'm not sure. He doesn't like to talk about it much. He just told me he went to college and learned a lot about coding!”
.
.
“Obiously not everything was sunshine and rainbows. He wasn't around the house much sometimes. Frankly, I think he's very slick and he thinks that I don't know this, but I know from what I heard about him talking to folks over the phone and talking to himself that he had to work like…3 jobs? In order to be financially stable. I know he's doing it for the best of us, but man. I really really want him to take a break. He deserves one! cause when he's not working he's taking care of me, ya know? He deserves some time to himself!”
.
.
Huh.
1x1x1x1 didn’t know someone could truly love their parents like that. Didn't know much about how a parent could love their kid and do anything for them. Sure, the stories she extensively learned about aligned with those ideas, but in her life, she had never seen such things. She knew it was possible, obviously, but she didn't know she was going to meet someone someday and get to know them well enough that they remembered these kinds of stuff actually happen and they weren't comforting lies displayed through a tv screen or through the text in a book.
She sat on the table till Noli came back from the “bathroom” (allegedly), and told the other two he had found food in one of the vacant dorm rooms, and she watched as Azure and Coolkid got out of their chairs, now conversing about something else entirely, and followed Noli to see what goods was it that he found. And even after the group that was initially in the kitchen was fully gone, she still sat on the table. She sat there , with the now long abandoned game of Uno, unsure of what to do now.
She was only… kind of certain about 1 thing
That 007n7 guy was one interesting specimen. Maybe he was as nice as Coolkid claimed. Maybe there was still something more about him further, something that maybe only Noli knew, based on his previous reaction. Now she… hated him a little less, per se.
1x1x1x1 decided that maybe it would be a good idea to keep tabs on that guy. Ya know, just to learn the full story about what kind of guy he was.
Notes:
I am so sorry to all my azure fans in the comments i think I lowkey fucked up with azure Id imagine he would be like nice and gentle in the surface level and like if you knew him in a surface level he would just seem nice and kind but since he does have all those issues when hes like with people hes more familiar with or something reminds him of anything bad that hapened in the past (such as being reminded of two time) the mask can slip and the cracks of his insecurties can be seen... idk if this is good or if im just projecting AHHHH (I too also have really bad paranoia issues).... its rlly hard to write charcaters that u arent that familiar with but you care for deeply
I kinda aslo to write coolkid in a way where like. Its clear that he is a kid but since he is an older kid hes kinda like, aware of the bad stuff that happens? Sometimes people depict Coolkid as being too oblivious and idk why but that rubs me the wrong way a bit. A lot of the inspo that i took for crafting his personality comes from like. An oc of mine and aslo beyblade burst charcaters. I like the idea of him knowing that even though his life with 007n7 was good it wasnt excatlly fully perfect that it really wouldnt take much (for exapmle, 007n7 being fired from one of his jobs) for it to completely fall apart. If he wouldhave grown to be older and continued with this path, I feel like coolkid would have grown up to do anything to ensure that he was able to replay 007n7 for all the sacrifices he has done in order to raise him. Sadly that will never happened cause the specter spectered and boom theyre now in forsaken.
I think thats it for my ramblings now. ^^
this is aslo your brick warning for next chapter make sure to bring helmets ^^ <3
Chapter 4: IV: Ignorance
Summary:
1x1x1x1 looks back into their childhood, to the point were they realized that something was inherently...wrong with how they were perceived by the person they trusted the most
Notes:
"And I'll reread the books
If I have time to spare
I'll paint the walls some more
I'm sure there's room somewhere
And then I'll brush and brush
And brush and brush my hair
Stuck in the same place I've always been
And I'll keep wondering and wondering
And wondering and wondering
When will my life begin?"-Chapter song: When will my life being (reprise 1)- Mandy Moore, from the movie tangled
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
What he said still had her brain wondering … wondering… about the past
.
.
.
It found itself in the hall of the gods.
That's where it permanently resided. That’s where its creator liked to keep it. Telamon. “Papa”.
The hall of the gods was known to be so empty now. Most of the gods of Robloxia had moved down to the mortal realm to live their life amongst humans, and they resided in Roblox HQ. That, or they were dead.
Telamon was one of the few if not the only one that still frequented being up there, as he still “had a couple of errands to fully take care off” before he fully transitioned into the mortal realm.
The errand in question was ensuring that it grew properly. He couldn't leave it alone, god knows what would happen then, but as long as he ensured that it was still alive and kicking, then everything should be theoretically fine.
It had grown quite fond of the wonders of the outside world.
The hall of gods was pretty, sure, but it was almost barren. Even though you could probably find all kinds of resources there, like the finest of silk, the priciest of paper, the prettiest of paints, the most delicious of food… without anyone to share it with, it didn't feel as grand. And something it learned early on is that it would be rare to find someone to share these joys with.
It didn't have a room of its own per se, as the one they resided in was before occupied by some god. However, it has been who knows how long since that person had been there and by that point the room had been wiped clean of any trace of the previous owner that it decided it would be appropriate to call it its own. And as such, it began to make it its own. It dyed the covers in the bed an emerald green, it painted stars in the ceilings to give it the feel of a sky it never knew, it sewed its own stuffed animals, its own dolls, its own clothes if it got tired of wearing the heavy robes. It found its own pair of old, but still functional swords it could use to practice to be just like its creator . By far, the thing it was most proud of outsourcing, however, was the plethora of books that it had found abandoned, scattered throughout the heavenly halls. Additionally, someone managed to get a TV in there, a TV that had probably also been left abandoned, A TV that did not only have the cable channels it someone managed to get a signal for, but also an extensive collection of DVDs as well. It still wasn't sure how the gods could leave such a powerful thing behind. As such, during the times it wasn't drawing or painting or sewing or practicing or somehow managed to get the attention of Telamon, it learned about the world through the books it read and the shows and movies it watched. It learned about the vast world that was out there, the many different countries and the many different people that inhabited it. It learned about the plants and the animals and the objects that occupied each environment. It learned about the relationships people had, from friends to siblings to family members to lovers and exes and even enemies. It learned what it meant to be a man, a woman, a mother, a father, a son, a daughter, a friend, a boyfriend, a girlfriend, a husband, a wife… A human. It learned just about how much it was missing out, how really really empty these halls were. And it wondered, if someday, it would be able to live in that world, to stop looking at everything through a screen and begin forming those relationships they saw all those protagonists build.
The only starting point it had was to start with Telamon. Its creator! Its “Papa”
It spent one day making a lot of drawings about it and Telamon enjoying the activities that it saw fathers enjoy with their sons and daughters from everything it watched. It hoped that if it drew them, then maybe he would be convinced and try them out with it too. They were crudely draw, don't get it wrong, it was no artist, but at least it was clear what was going on, and that's what mattered
It gathered the drawings and ran around the halls, looking, searching, going everywhere to find him. It wasn't sure if he was present up here right now, or if it was one of those days where he left to run some errands in the world down there. Nevertheless, it was still dead set on finding this man, some way or another.
After running through every single area it knew of this place, it retreated and started waiting in the main gate, the main gate it was never allowed out of, determined to stay there until Telamon made it home. And eventually, after 2 hours of waiting, it saw the hooded man approaching the door and opening the gate, only to be surprised and shocked to see its creation standing there, with a stack of disorganized papers being bent by how tightly its little arms were hugging them. As soon as Telamon managed to close the gate, it was all over him, exclaiming stuff with nothing but pure glee.
“Papa! Papa!” it chimed “look look! Look what I drew!” and it presented him with the stack of drawings it had spent its day making.
It stood there in anxious anticipation as he surveyed each and every one of the drawings carefully. Although it felt like he went through the entire stack too quickly, maybe he was just more attentive about noticing details than it was. He handed it the stack back once he finished looking at all of them
“These are neat.” Was all he said, but since it had been a really long time since he complimented something that it did (the last time that happened was when it initially started sewing its toys) it took it as a small personal victory.
Telamon was about to walk away to do god knows what, but he was interrupted by it suddenly grabbing the sleeve of his robe and tugging on it. It knew it was the only way to get his attention again.
“I…. I was wondering…If- If” it spoke more nervously “If we could do something like that, you know? We could go out someday… and we could go to a park and.. Play with the dogs, go on the play structure, buy some icecream, and walk around, you know? Like… like a family! Like if you were my dad and I was your um…. son or daughter! we could also go to an amusement park… or a circus, or a football game… or a soccer game or a-”
“Hey” Telamon placed his hand on its shoulder, and it stopped its train of thought “As much as you want to do that, sadly, you can't. You can never leave these halls till you're ready, you know? Or horrible things will happen. As of right now, you aren't meant to be seen by anyone. At all. So politely, I will decline your offer” He lifted his hand up and began to walk away again, but it tugged on the sleeve of his coat one last time
“W-well if we can't go outside, we can, we can always do something in here, ya know? We- we could play board games! Play non-board games! Watch Tv! Swordfight! Anything, really! I- I just want to spend some time with you! We-we could be a family you know? You could- you could be my dad! I could be your son! Or your daughter! Just please, please consider, please, Papa!”
Telamon turned around, and ruffled its head gently, much like it knew he had done since the very start “Listen, that sounds lovely, but it will never happen. You are my creation, no? And I am your creator. And that's all we will ever be. We can't change that, as much as you want to think we can. Sometimes we don't get what we want, you know? And sometimes, we can't control the things others or the universe chooses for us. I declined your offer again, but the concept of it is ... interesting, for lack of better words.” And with that, Telamon turned away again. This time, it had no will to argue against the ruling though. It couldn't argue what he said, it was different. It wasn't born in a traditional way, it had never gone to school, it didn't have much family or a set gender or even a name of its own. It could pretend to be human, maybe, but it probably wouldn't be as good or as authentic as a real child made of flesh and blood.
Maybe it could find a way to compromise with him later on. Some kind of loophole, maybe a story like this existed in the media that it could use to prove him wrong. Maybe it could find a way to change, and become a real human, a real child, a real person.
But right now, It was tired. Rightfully so. It retreated to its room again, but not before it tossed all those drawings out the gate, and watched them drift and fly away softly down to the mortal realm.
.
.
.
The first thing anyone heard the next morning was 1x1x1x1 throwing one of their swords in the wall in anger. Not like anyone wanted to question why such a thing happened anyways. It was made very clear from the get go that 1x1x1x1 did not like to talk about anything concerning themselves.
Not like it wanted anyone to know anyways. What they thought could make anyone feel sad for them, and they didnt need anyone’s fucking pity.
Frankly, they were jealous of that vermin.
Extremely fucking jealous.
Notes:
THIS IS THE LAST OF MY PREWRITEN CHAPTERS UMM..... don't expect updates every day after this especially considering how the average chapter is like 2k-3k words LOL i promise you its gonna be worth the wait I will try my best to get them out ASAP (I usually like to write a chapter before I publish the previous one... its odd, but it makes me feel happy, and it works with how finicky I get and also helps with my motivation)
I hope the brick didn't hurt that much. But I know it probably did Here, have some ice incase you got a boo boo ^^ <3
I like the idea of 1x1x1x1 being isolated as shit and thinking they know a lot about how people act but really not knowing a lot about how people act just because they consumed a humongous amount of media . they think they could predict what someone wants and doesnt want based on just their personailty alone. But we all know thats impossible. Just leaving that out there, theres a chance this might or might not come back to haunt you later. Oh who am I kidding, it definitely will.
Keep in mind the use of purposely gendered language. This, and the last fact, may or may not work hand in hand
Telamon made sure to try his hardest to not get attached to his creation. He knows what would happen if he did. But maybe it was better that way. Maybe things wouldn't have been so horrible. Due to this, things will not play out really pretty later on. Why didnt he want to get attached? Thats for the next flasback.... sorrey... yall will have to waitCompletely unerlated but by the time im publishing this im like. 5 levels away from m4 007n7 and im like. OSOSOSO EXCITED YIPEEE!!! im usually not very good at games because my motor skills are bad and my hand eye coordination is aslo really bad so actually being able to play 007n7 decently and being so close to mastering the character makes me really happy. Hopefully ill get it this week! I really hope I do
Hope you guys have a wonderful day! cya in a bit!
Chapter 5: V: Birthday
Summary:
Its Coolkid's birthday! while at first 1x1x1x1 wants absolutely nothing to do with such an event, he receives a request by the birthday brat to look for a certain someone...
Maybe it isnt as bad as what they first though
Notes:
"The house that you live in don't make it a home
But feeling lonely don't mean you're alone
People in life, they will come and they'll leave
But if I had a choice I know where I would be
Through the lows and the highs, I will stay by your side
There's no need for goodbyes, now I'm seeing the light
When the sky turns to grey and there's nothing to say
At the end of the day, I choose you"
-Chapter song: I choose- Alessia Cara, form the Willoughby's
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
It had been about 1 or 2 weeks ever since everyone got teleported here and the specter started having them play these ridiculous games. It hadn't been long enough for anyone to be able to fully accept that this was now the position that they were in till further notice and they were unable to do anything about it, but it had been long enough for them to settle into routine. Frankly, everyone in that cabin did have their own quirks. Most of them had their own issues, their own demons. But no one wanted to acknowledge them or talk about it. The most they did was either work around those issues or be patient and give some space and comfort if someone was going through it. It was like… there was some level of acknowledgement here. Like… they were all broken, and it's ok. You don't have to tell us why you’re broken, we will still be here for you.
And yet, despite knowing that no one would judge them for anything at all, 1x1x1x1 still found it hard to be around these people. It had to do with the fact that frankly, this was more people they saw on the regular than at any other point in their life. Additionally, they have already learned their lesson about what happens when you let your guard down. You never really know! There could always be a Bad Apple amongst them.
The one and only time someone came and tried to comfort them was that morning when they threw the sword out of anger in the wall. Emphasis on the “tried” because their attempt was quickly shut down by the bedroom door being slammed on their face. That’s when it became really clear that 1x1x1x1 wasn't really a people person, if it wasn't really that apparent before. As such, most of the people there recognized that they always needed to give them their space. Emphasis on the “most” since the vermin still seeked out for them. Although they still thought he was an annoying little shit, they also began to see him as what he was. A kid that had no business being in such a wretched place. As such, when 1x1x1x1 was with someone, it was probably with Coolkid, whenever it was watching him play with their minions, having small talk with him, or sometimes joining the game nights the kid liked to host, like, every single night.
Frankly, it was weird. This, even if this was horrible in a normal perspective, even if this was such a huge downgrade of a living situation for some of the other killers, this was. The most normal 1x1x1x1’s life had ever been. Normal, in the sense of what they knew was normal. Their life with Telamon was never truly normal
Speaking about Telamon…
The Killers one day decided to begin documenting all the survivors that were present in the matches, and begin tracking who was in what match to see if they could accurately predict who they would be going up against. The list was permanently on a microsoft excel document on a really old ass computer. And to say the least, it was stupidly grand. There was a column for each survivor, a row for each killer, and a tally system to see if they had been yet seen by that killer and if so, how many times they had been seen. Some of these survivors were spotted almost regularly by everyone, such as “Elliot”, the pizzaman, or that “Two Time” with the sharp pointy dagger. “Guest 1337” especially, was seen most of the time, and had enough data to calculate that he at least appeared half the time. It's as if the specter had some personal vendetta against him. Whatever. There were also some survivors that rarely appeared, only having been spotted a minute amount of times. Such people were faces such as "Valkyrie" or “Wanwood” or even the elusive … “Bloxburg reporter guy”. However, those weren't the people of interest as well. What really pissed 1x1x1x1 about this whole data thing, is that, amongst all those nobodies that they couldn’t care about, somebody emerged. That certain somebody was…..
Telamon.
Well. now self proclaimed “Shedletksy”
It wasn't weird that there was an admin here, obviously. It's not like he was the only one. “Builderman” and “Dusekkar” were also there.
It's just the fact that he was here.
They never thought they would see him again.
Well.
They hadn't seen him yet. They hadn't gotten him once in their matches. But once he did start showing up…. Gods, they didn't even know what they were going to do.
As far as they were aware, if a killer had something personal that was inherently bad going on with a survivor, the specter ensured that they weren't placed in their matches. They only came to this conclusion because they remembered Azure remarking that they hadn't seen that aforementioned “Two Time” once, with the same faltering expression when they mentioned that “they” had taught them so much about the world. Noli’s counter of total 007n7 sittings was still set a zero, and 1x1x1x1 had seen that guest 666 guy look at anyone longingly when they mentioned seeing that “Noob”, with their own Noob counter being still at a zero as well. Weird. Maybe the Specter wanted everyone to mellow down and get accustomed to everything first before he introduced potentially catastrophic pairings into the games. (Positive past connections seemingly were allowed, however, as Coolkid had seen 007n7 (atleast according to him, Coolkid’s counter was inherently unreliable because of his memory issues) and that John guy had a couple of tallies under some Jane of the same surname).
1x1x1x1 was already having troubles as it was connecting with the other people there because of how self-isolated there were. They did not need to be worrying about this ....”specimen”, for lack of a right word, being in their life again. So now. They were just going to pretend he didn't exist. That it was some other person. If you ignore a problem, maybe it will go away. That's a good idea… right?
Right?
Luckily, today, something was happening that did allow them to be able to ignore that problem, at least for right now.
The day didn't start like how it usually does, with 1x1x1x1 being able to wake up whenever they wanted (which was usually during what felt like late morning), but rather, they were awakened rudely at the crack of dawn by two gentle hands that shook them. That was… really fucking rude
“What the FUCK do you want” 1x1x1x1 slurred, still very much half asleep. They didn't know who the mystery person was, but once they heard the voice of this person, they were, rather surprised
“Apologies… but I do really need your help right now” It was Azure. Usually, he was a master at recognizing when others needed their own space. That means that something particularly important must have been going on.
1x1x1x1 sat up on their mattress, and Azure took the hint, as he always tended to do, and stepped back “This better be important. Or I'm going back to sleep.”
“Very important.” Azure said “It's about Coolkid.”
“Did something happen to him? Did he get hurt or have a nightmare or something? Can’t you deal with him on your own?” They spat
“Quite the opposite, actually. He told me a bit ago that his birthday was today”
“And why should I care?” They were already preparing to go back to sleep again. Birthday shmirtday! What an overhyped day! It literally is just any other day!
“...I was wondering if you could help me do something nice for him. Listen, you may not care about birthdays. I don't really care as well, to be frank. I never had mine celebrated. But you know who does care? Coolkid. The birthday boy. He told me, to the best of his ability, how his father celebrated his birthday, he's accustomed to it. I don't think he might expect anything from us, but I’d imagine it would be really heartbreaking if nothing happened either.” A pause “however, if it's still not enough to change your mind, the least I can tell the others I tried.”
Azure began to walk away in defeat when 1x1x1x1 sat up in the bed again.
“...You know what. Fine. I’ll help in anything that doesn't require me to talk to anyone”
Azure turned back to look at them and he smiled “You don't need to worry much. Most of the others are asleep. I think the only people I asked were Guest and Charlatan to put up the decorations. You can help me make a small cake if you want.”
Azure wasn't really much of a talker. He was more of a listener. They guessed that worked.
They got up from the bed and began walking to the doorway and making headway straight to the kitchen.
“....Youre not going to put on any clothes?” He asked, kind of surprised by how quickly 1x1x1x1 got over their morning drowsiness.
1x1x1x1 kept walking as they spat "Don't really need to. Too lazy right now. It's not like I have anything down there anyways. Hurry it up and lets go before I change my fucking mind.”
Baking the cake itself wasn't that hard. Well, at least 1x1x1x1 didn't have to do that much. They just passed the stuff to bake the cake to Azure and he worked the magic. Despite there not being a lot of resources to make the cake because all the cabin gave them was a random assortment of scattered objects all throughout the vacant, unoccupied rooms, they did find the bare essentials to make the cake, as well as just some simple frosting to decorate it with. However, Azure’s craftsmanship was amazing. He said it was because back when he was… not here, he lived in a “small, gated community in the middle of nowhere” his family owned the only bakery in town and his father said that he was going to eventually inherit it. He was always more interested in botany, and he still learned plenty about that, but “it's not like he had much choice”. 1x1x1x1 found it very clear that based on how he spoke about his past life, Azure was very much hiding something. But then again, everyone there is. As much as they wanted to hear more, they decided to not ask any further (and that could also lead him to ask about their past, which is the last thing they want to talk about)
At last, the small cake was finished, and by that point the duo decided to leave to give the person that was responsible for making breakfast to make said meal. At this point, 1x1x1x1 retreated back to their room in order to actually put on some clothes now. At this point, they had finished altering all the clothes that were previously present in that closet using the sewing kit and some dyes they had found in one of the vacant rooms, so when they stared at the closet they felt…right at home? Oddly enough.
They didn't put on anything particularly crazy. Just the usual. A crop top, a pair of loose fitting pants, and a cape. They sat on the mattress on the floor, like they were preparing to go back to sleep. But they knew they weren't. They weren't really a nap taking person. Once they were up, they were up till it was bedtime again. So…. What could they do?
They could start outsourcing stuff and poking their head around to see what was scattered in the vacant rooms. They could build a collection like the one they had back then. It was fun, sure, but they couldn't possibly find everything here, especially considering how it wasn't as easy as it was back then and here you actually needed to put some elbow grease to find something. Also, what's the possibility someone would want that or need that more? They couldn't possibly take that away from someone. They truly didn't need anything anyways. So…. will they work with what they have right now? Guess that couldn't hurt
The only thing is that right now they only had the sewing stuff.
They looked at the scrap pile of fabric that was in the corner of their room that they had neglected to discard.
Coolkidd’s birthday today huh? With a birthday comes birthday presents, no? They guessed they could make the vermin something…. A shirt could work, but they had never seen vermin wear such a thing, so it would have to be something else. Mayhaps something even more simple.
1x1x1x1 got up, and walked to the pile, to see if there was anything that could be salvaged.
They were sitting down and figuring out which one of the scraps they had found to be possible contenders would be the lucky one that would be picked today when they heard a knock, the same kind of tempo that only one person did in this cabin. 1x1x1x1 scoffed. Great. The vermin was here. Well. no need to be rude right now, especially not today. Although… it was kind of odd he was here, cause usually, around this time, it would be when Coolkidd played his first match.
1x1x1x1 walked up to the door to see the prized birthday boy of today. Except that instead of looking incredibly joyful or happy or however the fuck special people look in their special day, he looked…. Kind of annoyed.
“You wanna know what the specter told me? Do you?” 1x1x1x1 didn't even have time to even utter a word, as this kid was already on his feet and already complaining ‘I told myself to remember this, so I am SURE he said this!”
“...what happened” they stated
“This guy showed up at my door the second I woke up and he was like “Good day kiddo! Happy Birthday! Oh, by the way, consider this my gift to you, you will not be playing any matches today! Isn't that lovely? Don't worry! I'll let the others cover your matches for you!” and before I could say anything really, he just left! Up and out! I didn't think he was serious so I didn't tell anyone but lo and behold it's supposed to be my turn now but I’m not playing tag? Isn’t that pretty?! It's pretty freaking annoying, that's what it is!”
“...wow.” was all that 1x1x1x1 could say at first. Sometimes they forgot that this kid didn't know what he was actually playing. If he actually knew, then they’d imagine he'd be glad he got the day off. Hell, if 1x1x1x1 was the kid, they would be glad even if they thought they were only playing tag. But y'know what, what can they do. This just means that they would have to potentially play one more match today, which, although shitty, wasn't that shitty
“....well” 1x1x1x1 finally managed to say, after an uncomfortable pause “if it helps you a bit, think about it this way. Today… Instead of having to play tag, you can choose whatever game you want to play with us. And you won't have to worry about getting hurt because we will listen when you don't want to play anymore. You can relax and do nothing if you want as well. I’ve also heard that other people are planning to give you gifts. Thats… better than playing good ol’ boring tag, huh?”
Guess that their persuasion skills weren't as good as they thought, because all that Coolkid did was show his lack of amusement through his facial expression. “I guess….” he pouted.
“It's just gonna be for one day kiddo. Next thing tomorrow you'll probably be back up and running and chasing them fuckass survs again”
That seemed to at least mildly satisfy the kid more. He took a deep breath, and he smiled (1x couldn't tell if it was genuine or not though…) “Yknow what, you are right Mx. 1x! I can wait a day! And considering what day it is, it's gonna go by fast!” he stopped speaking, only to return back to a more calm demeanor “Although… I do have a favor to ask…”
“....what is it?”
“If you see my dad while you play tag, can you tell him that I’m sorry I wasn't here today to play tag with him but that I hope he has a wonderful day nonetheless? I'm sure he's anxious to know where I could have possibly gone on my special day.”
1x1x1x1 stayed silent for a bit. It was, frankly, the dumbest request they had ever gotten, but who were they to argue against the literal star of that date? “....you got it” they said firmly “.....Happy birthday, by the way”
“Thank you!” the vermin said happily, clapping his hands “man, you sure gotta tell me your birthday someday too!”
“....I never really had one.” they spat “Well. I kinda do. I just dont know the date cause it was never celebrated”
“That's baloney! Everyone deserves to have their birthday celebrated! We should figure out a new date for you to have your birthday and celebrate it for you some day!”
“...”
“Anyways, I will see you later Mx. 1x! Mr. Doe said he had something to show me. He probably thinks he's gonna surprise me with a gift or something, but I am already two steps away!” and with that, the kid left into the hallway to god knows where.
Guess 1x1x1x1 had a promise to keep that day.
They still had a bit before they had their first match. They were usually one of the last ones to go up in the rotation, so that's why they slept in in the first place. They usually played 1 or 2 matches. Such rotations always guaranteed they always had the last match of the day. So they could always investigate. Figure out, “what could possibly be the probability for 007n7 to be chosen in their match?. As such, the first thing they did after their talk with Coolkid was go downstairs and check on that old ass computer in order to make some calculations with the data in the excel sheet. 1x1x1x1 wasn't really a math wiz, but after quickly reading an article about probability for dummies, they immediately got their brain fired up and began to work.
So far, all the killers had accumulated a total of 560 matches. Between 2 to 8 survivors were in each match, but since they weren't willing to play with that variable yet they would leave it alone for right now. They knew that there were about 19 survivors overall, based on all the tallies. That means that for any given match, the probability for a specific survivor you want to show up to end up showing up in your match would be.. Let's see…. 1/19, they think? So…. a miniscule 5 percent.
However, once they reviewed the numbers again, factoring that the Specter liked to send out specific people more often than others, they realized that the elusive parental figure “007n7” showed up… a lot more often than the other survivors. Not as much as people like Elliot or Guest, but still a significant increase compared to someone that could be seen as an average like that Chance guy. Running the numbers again, they counted up all the total numbers again, taking note that in all the 560 matches, 007n7 had been spotted around 102 times. The new probability came out to 102/560, or a new percentage of about 18%. That means, for every 100 matches…. This guy would have been spotted 18 times.
Frankly. It is not the best odds in the world, but it is still better than measly… 5%.
This was an odd that 1x1x1x1 was willing to bet on. They had nothing to lose, after all.
The killers had established that all the proper birthday celebrations, a.k.a, the main party and the cutting of the cake, would happen after all the matches of the day had been concluded. For most of the day, 1x1x1x1 had spent it carefully making the vermin’s gift and trying to find the right dye in the vacant rooms to color it with. Additionally, they had 4 matches lined up that day, so the possibility of seeing that 007n7 man was even slightly higher.
That means they only had 4 shots, however. So, when they got called, they crossed their fingers diligently, praying that they would be able to fulfill the vermin’s request. God knows what would happen if the promise wasn't kept
The first match for the day was rather depressing. Only 2 survivors got teleported there, that being “Dussekar” and a very much well asleep “Taph”. Needless to say, they didn't last a long time, if at all.
The second match was as full of a lobby as you can get. They were greeted by the sight of 8 people there, people that sounded like they were ready and eager to face whatever they had in store. Yet, despite all these annoying faces, the hacker was nowhere to be found. Not like they were preoccupied with that at the moment, as even though they tried with their best of efforts, they were only able to exterminate about half the lobby before the time ran down and they were subjected to feel that familiar surge of pain that came when the timer hit zero yet again.
The third match could as best be described as average. About 6 people. Some had been in the prior mega match before. Hell, even Dusekkar showed his ugly mug again. One of them even acted like they hadn't played a single match that day. And yet. The man they were searching for was nowhere to be seen. It was even stupider to say Dusekkar twice, as that guy usually got picked even less to go than 007n7. It's as if the specter was playing games with them. Either way, They were able to almost server wipe, until they lost that “Veeronica” person in the biggest area of the horror hotel during last man standing.
They had asked some killers around to see if any of them had spotted 007n7 around as well, to see if they could deliver Coolkid’s message for them. But they got nothing but confirmation that 007n7 hadn't been seen around. It was either some crazy odds, or the specter was withholding him on purpose. They stopped asking around and instead started to focus on making sure their gift for the vermin was done, which they thankfully did finish before their last match. They began polishing their swords, making sure that they were battle ready. Who knew what could happen in these matches, as they were always unpredictable.
Soon, the time came. The very last match of the day. Then, it was time to… party.
1x1x1x1 got teleported to what seemed to be Brandonworks. The specter, as usual, was right there and ready to give them the list of the people they were going to see this time around. They quickly scanned it, and once they realized who would be there, their eyes lit up
“Elliot
Builderman
Jane Doe
007n7”
There it was.
Only took…. An entire day of non stop matches….. Could be worse. It was a smaller lobby too, so this shouldn't take as long.
Except that… this guy was known to be a master at hiding and lurking…. Maybe it was best to leave him for the last man? To ensure he would have nowhere to run?
1x1x1x1 was already formulating a plan on how to ensure that that would happen as soon as they spawned and gained their movement. It was just a plan to ensure that everything played out exactly how they wanted it. And as such, they put it into action
They went after the pizza man first. He was technically the biggest danger to fumble his plans because he could heal any of his fellowmen at any second and they would get right back up almost instantly. They found that he spawned in the main castle. Although they ended up getting looped quite a bit, it wasn't too long for the man to be out of breath and to end up falling to the hands of the killer. There was about 2 minutes 30 left in the time.
Next was the builderman. He was a jack of all trades when it came to aiding his teams and disrupting the hunter. But as the phrase implies, he was a master of none. He could heal, yes, but only gradually. Still, any form of healing his companions could end up being big trouble to 1x1x1x1. They found him setting up a generator on the only other elevated part of the map, that random rock path that was enclosed and sometimes had a generator spawning there. Since they found just as he was setting up one of his sentries, they were able to catch him off guard, and the chase didn’t go long enough after that. By this point, there were about 2 minutes left in the timer.
They went after Jane next, knowing full well that at this point the poor man must have been preparing to get ready to try anything to stay alive after his only other teammate died. Jane was somewhat of an above average survivor. She seemed like she had adapted well, or at least more quickly than others, to her new circumstances. She was able to put up a fight for a bit, but it wasn't long till she too lost her focus and became the next victim of 1x1x1x1’s slaughter. It didn't matter how much time was left in the timer, as the time for lms was always the same: 1 minute and 13 seconds. They just needed to deliver the message to the man, and kill him off to secure the win. Should be quick and easy.
1x1x1x1 was standing debating whenever they should summon their minions before they delivered the message or after they delivered the message when suddenly a flash of red appeared in their corner of their eye, and they saw the ever oh so nervous 007n7, blink into existence, seeing the worry fade from his face only to immediately reappear when he realized that his attempt to move far away from the killer…. Brought him to them instead.
The grown man squealed much like he usually did when he got caught off guard, and like he usually does, he began to run away as far as his two legs could take him. But 1x1x1x1 was quick to react fast, unlike the very first time that the man tried to run away. They were quick to summon all their power and hit him with a hard, fast and speedy entanglement right to his face. Immobilizing him in place, and giving them enough time to run up to him
The man looked frankly terrified, like he was trying to accept his fate while also praying that maybe there was a small window, a small chance, he could somehow salvage this and not fall prey to such an unfortunate demise. 1x1x1x1 wasn't sure if he wasn't moving because he still had popups to close or because he was genuinely so nervous that he couldn't move, but they took their time to study him up and down, looking at every messed up hair, every sweat drop, every fold in his clothes, every curve in his chubbier body, every sesame seed in his burger. It only occurred to 1x1x1x1 that if they were standing close enough to be able to see every single individual eyelash in this man's eyes, then maybe they were standing too close. Also, the look of pure fear that was in his face before was now filled with at least a bit of confusion. They stepped away, and the man must have taken it as the sign that they were going to attack, because the confusion wore off immediately. However, instead of running away, he put his hands in front of his face like how that guest usually does to block people and cried out “WAIT!!!!”, and just stood there, like they were expecting a sword to crash into him at any second. He just looked like a fool, however, as 1x1x1x1, right now, didn't have any intention to strike.
“....what.” they deadpanned, voice low and raspy.
“....youre actually going to wait.. Nonono wait nevermind that's besides the point. I know this seems like super super odd but I NEED YOU HELP! PLEASE! JUST DO ME A SMALL FAVOR! You'll never have to do any favors for me and you can kill me afterwards however much you want! Just please help me with this once!” The man begged, putting his hands together in a praying position. If he was even more desperate, he probably would have been on the floor on his knees. Man, this guy did not look or act much like his son, but he sure whined like him.
“....what.” they deadpanned again, and the man began rummaging through his pockets, seemingly trying to pull out something. Eventually, he managed to pull the thing out. In his hand, was a rather small, black box, adorned with a red ribbon on the very top. He proceeded to shove it into 1x1x1x1’s hands
“Oh thank god! I’m… I'm assuming that the killers live in the same place much like how the survivors live in the same place… this might be a long shot and I might be wrong, but please deliver this to my son! It's his 10th birthday today, and it's supposed to be the biggest of his big days as of right now. Even if I can't be there all day to celebrate it with him, I have to at least show him that I care! Please please deliver this to him! Please, I'm begging you!”
1x1x1x1 held the box in their hand, and studied it carefully, before pocketing it themselves and nodding. “....ok.”
“I can't thank you enough! This means everything to me! You’re so considerate! I couldn't be more glad!” The man choked, sheer gratefulness cracking through every word he said
(...considerate?)
“....okay.” a pause. A really long pause. They just glared at 007n7 as the man calmed down yet again, and then they watched as he slowly realized that they were in a death game after all
“...is this the part where I run away?”
1x1x1x1 still glared, but they shook their heads “....Coolkid actually told me to tell you something.”
“...wh-what did he say?”
“..... he told me to tell you that… he’s sorry that he wasn't there to play tag with you, but that “he hopes you have a wonderful day nonetheless”. At least.. That's what I remember”
007n7's face of terror all disappeared at this point, and was instead replaced with a heartwarming smile. It's as… all his troubles melted away
“Thank you for informing me! Although… tag? He thinks this is all a game of… tag?”
“...specter” they bluntly stated. And it didn't take long for 007n7 to figure out exactly what they meant by that
“Ah. I see.” A pause “Well, thanks nonetheless! Tell coolkid I’ll hopefully see him tomorrow, and that I hope he has a wonderful day as well.. Not just a wonderful day.. A wonderful birthday!!... if that isn't too much, obviously. Just delivering the gift is fine. But again! I can't emphasize enough how grateful I am! Thanks! A million times thanks.”
(Why was he putting them on such a high pedestal? They were nothing but scum.)
“... you’re welcome.” They said,
Before they could do anything else, however, the timer ran out, and they were greeted with the same surge of pain that usually came at the end of these matches. They winced, collapsed, and everything went black as per usual. They would.. Probably get used to this soon
The last thing they heard this time however was…. 007n7 asking with worry if they were ok. Fuck, why did he care? This happened all the time anyways.
.
.
.
….too bad they couldn't answer him.
When 1x1x1x1 got back from the game, they went straight to their room. They could tell the party had already started, but the idea about being around so many people made them feel rather queasy. For right now, it would probably be best to wait a bit for things to mellow out and then see exactly how a “birthday party” was like, like if it was the same as they saw on TV, or if it was, somehow, completely different. All they had to do, in their opinion, was to deliver the gifts and leave. That should probably be simple enough.
(Also, although their interaction with the sought after dad had been rather sweet earlier, they still couldn't bear the thought about being in such proximity to his kid, after it was made very clear based on his words that he clearly loved the kid. Why couldn't they have such nice things like that?)
As they slowly heard the chatter die down, they began to face their fears and walked downstairs again, into the kitchen, where about 6 people were hurdled around playing an intense game of uno. Even if the whole cabin wasn't there, it still felt incredibly crowded. It seemed like those 6 people were the ones that wanted to remain the longest at the party. Everyone else probably just said their congratulations and left to do their own thing.
From the looks of the cards, it wasn't a close game at all. Slasher and Noli were pretty close to winning while Guest had somehow managed to accumulate about 30 cards. 1x1x1x1 didn't even know someone could be so unlucky in uno. But thankfully, there is no way that would end up being them, since they weren't there to play any games.
Just deliver the gifts, and leave. That's all they had to do. Give the gifts, and leave.
They walked up to where Coolkid was standing, studying the cards in his hand, trying to figure out what his next move would be. He, sadly, only had blues.
They tapped the vermin’s shoulder to get his attention, but it took less time for those around him to notice that 1x1x1x1 was there than it took Coolkid to notice the same thing.
“Hey! Wanna join us? We can always fetch another chair or something!” Charlatan called out, leaning on her chair. 1x1x1x1 shook their heads.
“... just wanna talk with….the kid, really quickly.” They said, and coolkid turned back to look at them.
The vermin jumped out of his chair, and told the table “Nobody makes any moves till I'm back!” Then he turned to face directly at 1x1x1x1 “What's it about?”
They ushered him to the actual kitchen part of the kitchen, still wanting to have their space from the other people there.
“....I managed to talk to your dad last match. Your message has been delivered” They stated.
“WAHHH????!?! YOU FOUND HIM?!? AND HE DIDN'T RUN AWAY? WOAHH THATS SO COOL! THANK YOU Mx. 1x!!! What did he say, what did he say?” the vermin chirped. 1x1x1x1 winced at how loud they were.
“He told me to tell you…that he hopes you to also have a wonderful day… a wonderful birthday, and that he “will hopefully see you tomorrow.” They pulled out the small box from their pockets and put it on the kitchen counter “he also told me to give you this”
The vermin grabbed the box as soon as 1x1x1x1 stopped speaking and took the lid of the thing, only to pull out from it a…. Small technological apparatus that was black with red outlines, a hatch in the middle and a big red button. It kind of looked like an etch-a-ketch if etch-a-sketch was small, square, and clearly not meant for sketching. The kid placed the apparatus down on the table again, and pressed the button. The hatch opened right up, and a small hologram was turned on and started playing. The hologram was only cyan in color, but you could see clearly what the projection was that it was playing. The content in question was a rather beginner animation of what seemed to be Coolkid and his dad dancing, with confetti around them and the message “happy birthday" displayed clearly. There was also, seemingly, a note in the box, which Coolkid grabbed as soon as he noticed it was in there. He read it attentively, and 1x1x1x1 read it over his shoulder. It said:
“Happy 10th birthday son! I hope you’re having fun! Sorry if this gift isn't that good or amazing, there's not a lot of stuff to work with here and I can only make so much, even with how machinery comes so easy for me. I'm sorry I wasn't able to be there with you, but I promise you I will be there for your next birthday. Wish you the very best!
Love, Dad”
Such sweetness. It left a bitter taste in 1x1x1x1’s mouth. But the kid was ecstatic. As all kids are.
“It's so cool!! Isn't it 1x1x1x1? It's crazy how he was able to make such a thing in a place like this!” The kid pointed at the apparatus again, which was still displaying the same animation “This is such an amazing piece of decor! It's crazy how people can make stuff like this! I love it! I love it a lot! I'm gonna make sure to tell him that I love it a lot tomorrow.”
1x1x1x1 didn't really say much. They just reached for their pockets again and placed in the counter their own gift for the vermin. In the counter, apart from the hologram apparatus, was now a blue bandana that had had the edges decorated with some simple patterns consisting of xs and os .
“...Huh?” Coolkid looked at the bandana, then back at 1x1x1x1, then at the bandana, then back at 1x1x1x1. He pointed at the clothing article “..For me? You made this..?”
“Yeah. Consider this my gift from you.” They scoffed “I have never been to a birthday party before but. I know it's customary to bring gifts or. whatevever.
The kid's face went from surprise to… a lot, a lot of glee.
“You really do care!”
“..huh?!” Now it was 1x1x1x1’s turn to be befuddled
“You act so edgy and distant, but you really do care about me! About everyone here, maybe!” The vermin tackled 1x1x1x1 in a big bear hug “you’re just a big softie! You really are kind, Mx. 1x1x1x1!”
They tried shaking him off. They were differently not used to physical contact yet, especially not a hug.“ I AM NOT A SOFTIE! GET THE FUCK OFF FROM ME!” They whined.
“But you really do care! You really do!” The vermin eventually obliged and let go of the hug “Thank you so much! It's so pretty! I’m never taking it off! You really are the best!”
1x1x1x1 thought that they were going to start arguing against the accusations that they “really did care”, but instead of that, it felt like. Something had been lifted off their chest. Like… this kid really did.. Care for them? Like how he cared about everyone themselves?
This kid didn't only treat them like they were a person but also like… they were someone important. Although they did get similar remarks of attitude from their father earlier, it didn't feel as special. Maybe it's because they didn't know him as well and that he was probably more of a pushover kind that would have the knack to be nice to everyone. His kid was different though. Coolkid knew how to stand his ground. Which in turn meant that he was more likely to make it known that he didn't like you. His gratefulness, as such, felt more… well earned. And since he knew the kid better…. Unlike pushing it away before… 1x1x1x1 felt like they were more willing to accept it. Maybe the kid…wasnt that much of a vermin as they thought?
A small smile formed in their face. Man, maybe it was a good idea to make that dumbass bandana.
Coolkid was quick to notice the smile ‘Hey! I’ve never seen you do that! Ever! You truly are a big softie!”
That made 1x1x1x1 immediately stop smiling “ I AM NOT A FUCKING SOFTIE!! ” they bickered, as such, them and the kid began having a big back and forth, about the ever so pending matter of if 1x1x1x1 was a softie or not. Which was eventually stopped not because one side gave up, but because someone in the table asked if coolkid was done bickering and if he was going back to play the game he was originally playing. Although their first intention was to leave after delivering the gifts, 1x1x1x1 decided that maybe it wouldn't hurt that much to stick around, and that maybe it would be fun to see if, as predicted, either Noli or Slasher would take the win, or if Guest could somehow make a comeback, or if anyone else at the table was able to somehow turn the tables in their table.
Maybe, just maybe, they could get used to this life.
Notes:
do NOT ask me how this chapter got so fat. I was averaging 1 chapter every two days. This one took me four ;-;. ITS 6k WORDS. it took like 11 pages in the google document I was writing this in. ITS LENGTH MADE ME JUMP. my own story made me scared 3
This turned out to be so so fluffy. ig this is yall reward for getting through the last brick. And I really mean it, I dont think anything bad happens next chapter. Do not worry, this is not the calm before the storm.
1x1x1x1 has like... slowly starting getting over their jealousy. Not fully yet, believe me, that stuff takes a lot of time to work tthough but. They're steering towards that direction. And I think thats very sweet. All my found family fans are cheering right now, probably
aslo 007n7 and 1x have officially intecated after a four chapter wait CHAT TRUTS the poison is starting to kick in and by the poison i mean the poison in the poisonburger YYAY!! (1x1x1x1 not undertsning boundrais and standing really close to 007n7 and examining like a bug will never not be funny to me think baout it like how a dog looks at you whe they see you for the first time. Except the dog is the homophobic dog with its trademark homophobic face. Thats how 1x1x1x1 was staring at 007n70) THE TAG IS TAGGING YIPEEEE. Its stiill gon na take a bit before theyre official but. were getting there. (Sorry im just allergic to not writing slowburn as a demiromantic person I loveeeee to develop the feelings slowly and graudally)
Aslo, dont tell anyone I told you this but... yall will get some art next chapter heh... THANKS FOR ALL THE SUPPORT THIS MEANS A LOT TO ME YOU GUYS ARE THE SWEETESTS!!! <3 think of the art as your treat!! :DHope you all have a wonderful day! see you in the next chapter once I finish that one and the next one after that!
Chapter 6: Intermission I: Settling into a new routine
Summary:
A small summary of what happened between arc 1 (The last 5 chapters) and the next arc
Notes:
"As it is, as it is, without change
It's always been the same, so let's go back to sleep
Have a good night, have a good night, have a good night
Ahh, now I'm already exhausted"
-Intermission song : as it is as it is without change- Kikuo
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
At this point, it has been about two or three months ever since everyone was first teleported into this space. And it was very clear everyone had settled in fully at this point. It was just life to them now.
Although 1x1x1x1 could go into detail about how each of these samey, mundane days played out, it would frankly bore the hell out of him just thinking about how the routine went over and over again. So instead, maybe it was just best to… reflect about what had changed over time? Because some things had changed.
The cabin itself had become more homely. Slowly, but surely, people found or made decorations to brighten the living atmosphere. Picture frames were put up, some with their original pictures still in there, some of them that had been replaced by pictures of people in the cabin that wanted to be photographed. Speaking of which, someone had found a small digital camera that produced absolutely shit quality pictures but worked nonetheless, as well as a laser printer that looked way more recent than the old ass computer. One day someone made the discovery of some extensive amount of house paint, and even though it ran out pretty quickly, it did allow people to be able to paint their rooms and make them feel less prison-like and more like their rooms. 1x1x1x1 themselves didn't do much when it came to painting except paint the same stars in the ceiling they had grown accustomed to previously, but this time, way more carefully, as he could actually control his precision. However, the biggest upside was that somehow, he found a lot of scarp wood, and after receiving some instructions from John Doe, he was now actually able to make a bed frame so the mattress would have to always be in the ground. He also found a full body mirror. His room was, frankly, starting to look like a room. He felt that maybe, the specter had just started putting away more miscellaneous items in the vacant rooms, and constantly replenished them, since so much new stuff was found in them, Or maybe it was because he was just doing a lot more scavenging in them in general. He didn't know for sure what was the correct answer. Maybe it was both. But due to what he said, and even so much other stuff he was too lazy to mention, this cabin looked a lot less vacant and small, and felt more homely and lived in. He felt like now it was actually appropriate to call the living room a “living room”, unlike previously before.
The other thing that mostly changed is that he actually found himself being around the people there more. Obviously, he hasn't become a straight up extrovert, gods no, that wasn't him like. At all. He still liked his alone time a lot. But he had spent more time being a grouch in his room and more time just actually exploring around. He mostly spent time around people like Azure and Slasher and John Doe, because they too were rather quiet and reserved and they didn't really talk much (if at all) and he found them just pleasant to be around. Oh, and of course, there was Coolkid. He was the outlier, obviously. Although he still got pissed at the kid from time to time and still felt incredibly angry and jealous towards him sometimes, 1x1x1x1 was able to look past it… most of the time. It was hard to do but… he was getting better at it. Plus, this kid always made sure he was included in activities and he somehow always knew how and when to give them space. It was nice? The kid himself said they were friends. 1x1x1x1 had frankly never had a friend. Ever. from going to having none to having one was weird. It was weird to have someone that looked out for you. But it was nice. It felt nice. It was something he had always longed for, so now that he finally has it… it really did feel really really nice. Maybe he could consider the kid his friend too.
….Coolkid and the other acquaintances he had on the killer side of things weren't the only other people he spoke to. Weirdly enough.
007n7.
That pushover of a man.
They were acquainted… to some degree.
If you could even call it that. They rarely saw each other. It's just that ever since the first time he spared him in LMS…He had just… kept sparing him? It truly began after the first instance where 1x1x1x1 just had the urge to inform him that he was in fact ok when he fell down once the timer ended, and it was just something that happened after a match if the killer didn't manage to keep their goal. But then, after that, it just kept going. It was only during LMS, obviously, if he found him first he would fall victim to 1x1x1x1’s fury. But during LMS he was just… really pathetic. A kind of patheticness that felt like he wouldn't even last a second, despite what all the other killers said about him. This man, when he wasn't squealing or running away, just had a knack of going into random infodumps about, whatever came into his mind at the moment, really, and 1x1x1x1 just stood there and listened, sometimes proving something of worth back, even if he didn't speak much past that. How lonely does one truly have to be to infodump someone that won't even contribute much to the conversation, someone that is considered the enemy no less?
He was still interested in seeing if 007n7 really was just a kind, gentle man, as Coolkid has always portrayed him, and as he presented himself to 1x1x1x1 with his sheepish mannerisms and nervous expression on his face. Or if there was anything past that, as Noli still had refused to even give his opinion about the man. It just went… much much deeper. He tried reading between the lines past everything he said, but this man, as much as he spoke, seemingly seemed to be a master at keeping anything that could even give away part of his secrets away from the conversation. The most that 1x1x1x1 had gathered from sometimes about 007n7 hinted at but mostly about the idle chatter from the other survivors around him was that he was once… a hacker. But he didn't even know what he hacked or how far it went. Oh, and also, that most of the other survivors didn't really like him. Which means, even more reason to keep tabs on this man. Who knows what kind of grand crimes he could have committed when he was in his little hacker era (not like… 1x1x1x1 was any better, really). He wasn't even sure what his own opinion on him was right now. He knew so much at face value, but yet he didn't know anything truly at all. Like he was afraid of truly showing who he was, much like a lot of the other killers. 1x1x1x1 was conflicted. He wouldn’t dare cross over a boundary like that. But at the same time, he just wanted to know more about 007n7. And more. And more and more and more and more .
007n7 was an enigma of a man.
It was stupid but. Being stuck in this realm was just overall really fucking stupid. And apart form following the routine, there was really no other fucking thing to do. The worst that could probably happen is that he finds out that he's just some scum of the earth to some degree, and then 1x1x1x1 would proceed to not spare him anymore, and he would keep his opinions about 007n7 hidden to Coolkid much like how Noli had obviously been doing ever since the very beginning. The best thing that happens is what's been happening: him and this man keep being acquaintances, and life goes on as normal. Seriously, what other thing could happen past that?
This was, maybe, 1x1x1x1’s detective arc.
Haihai!! Welcome back! Its me the author! And welcome to the first intermisioon chapter!
This authors note was meantto be longer but i accidentally deleted the completed draft of it before i could save it somewhere. Silly me! But let me see if i can summarize all the main points of it quickly so you still get all the info you need.
An intermission chapter, in this fic, is a chapter shorted in length that is meant to give the reader context about what happens a long time skip. These chapters will aslo be used to separate arcs, so congrats! You made it to the second arc. Get ready for more shendaninags to be going on soon! Additionally, these chapters will be used to give a more extensive authors note, aswell as display some art! If you’re binging this fic, i would take this as your sign to get up, maybe go to the bathroom and grab a snack before you sit back down and you continue reading.
This fic will have another intermission past this one, as well as a final authors note which will be last chapter. So in turn, not counting all these authors notes, the fic has 16 chapters in total. Juts wanted to make that clear really quickly!
At the time of writing this, the next chapter is mostly finished, and the next chapter after that will probably go into works, so keep an eye out for the next chapter in like… maybe 3-4 days? Hopefully!
Appart form that, I just really want to say… thank you all so much for the support! I didnt expect this fic to get so big so fast. 157 kudos and 1.9k hits is absolutely insane to me. Ive never gotten this much support in any project ever. Every singe kudo, every single comment means everything to me. Thank you all sos so much! I promise you I will try my hardest to finish this, and I hope that it keeps up to your standards! This really does mean everything to me
Ill try to publish a chapter every 2-5 days, but I might slow down once I start going to school soon. Juts a quick waring before that happens! I will not give up on this though. Theres still so many scenes I am so excited for that i want to write…. Im so excited
This first arc was meant to establish the setting, the characters present in that setting, and how they interact with each other, aswell as show small sing about how 1x1x1x1’s unsolved trauma kind of affects how she sees the world and how she interacts around others. Nothing truly too horrible yet, since its stubble, but it probably will get worse as we go along. The next arc and onwards we really get into the meat of the story. That means… more 007n7, more poisonbugrer, possibly more found family… and definitely more angst, yipee! Thats all im saying right now. I still need to be a professional gatekeeper in order to not give the whole story away.
Thats all I wanted to say! Again, thanks for everything! Now, feast your eyes on some of this art I made for this fic!
The main course of art today are these pieces that show off my head cannons for them! Here we have:
1x1x1x1 and 007n7
C00lkidd
Azurewrath
Noli
And last but not least, have some miscellaneous art i drew because I was feeling silly and funny! I love 1x1x1x1 and 007n7 theyre so cutie… theyre my parents <3
Hope you guys have a wonderful day!
Notes:
im finallygetting robux after almost ten years of playing roblox ouhhhhhh.... i can finnally be one of the cool kids (pun intended)
I aslo got 007n7 m4 i feel like such a proud lil nugget who wants me/j
yall lsiten to soap by penelope scott ts is peak
Chapter 7: VI: Strange Feelings
Summary:
after consitently failing to truly get to know the full picture of who 007n7 is, 1x1x1x1 decides to ask Noli to see what he knows about him.
1x1x1x1 then discovers something he feels he shoudnt have discovered
Notes:
"I dont know what I want
But I know its not this
These words dont mean nothing
once they left my lips
[...]
More awake inside of my dreams
was that really you next to me?"
- Chapter song: wutiwant- Saraunh0ly
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
“Do you ever think about the possibility of other timelines?”
Another day, another match, another Last man standing. With 007n7. So. Not really the last man standing. More like. Last people standing. Because there were two of them. Ha. ha. (god awful joke. Way to go 1x1x1x1).
They were in the Cool Carnival, on one of the gondolas of the ferris wheel, both of them knowing full on well that the wheel would never turn on. You couldn't normally get on the ferris wheel anyways, the only reason they were able to do that is because they stacked one of 1x1x1x1’s minions over one of 007n7’s clones and they climbed the rather unstable structure (unstable, because the minion was actively trying to attack 007n7 as they climbed it, which means that such an endeavor wasn't without injury).
He looked at his companion and frowned. “Makes me want to puke. I’d rather not.”
007n7 stared at him curiosly “That's interesting. Cause I think about it all the time, ya know? There's many things that happened to me that I wish I didn't, many mistakes I made that I wish I could take back, many things I ruined that I wish that I could fix. But even then….”
“Even then..?”
“If I hadn't made all those choices and had all those things happen to me, I wouldn't be where I am now. Frankly, I wouldn't like the things I like or know the people I know and love the people I love. While there are still some shitty things I’d rather get rid off, without saying shitty things I wouldn't have some of the things I truly treasure. I wonder if an alternate me that did everything right would feel the same way, or if he would feel unfulfilled, or if doing those things correctly would cause him to have a new set of challenges happen upon him and in the end, turn out to be a completely different person than I am?”
“I see.”
“Maybe my brain is just haywired this way. Maybe I have just been accustomed for anything to go wrong, even if things look like they couldn't go wrong, because that's something that happens a lot in coding. And even though you could go check how a bug happened, sometimes it's just good to leave the functioning piece of code running because, hey, it works. The functioning piece of code is kind of like my life. Any bug that arrives could be another parallel reality. Thinking about it that way allows me to linger on the concept of an alternate reality somewhat without fully losing myself in it.”
‘That sure is.. One good way to put it.”1x1x1x1 stopped looking at him and instead started looking straight ahead “Still, I’d rather not”
“Fair enough. Not everyone can train their brain into not lingering for too long and they can find themselves lost in a deep sea of regret.”
They stood in silence for a moment. Before anyone else could say anything, however, the timer fully ran out and 1x1x1x1 found himself again falling unconscious, collapsing on the floor of the gondola. He didn't even know how he didn't fall out of it and onto the ground.
When he awoke again, 1x1x1x1 scoffed silently. He yet again, much like last time, and much like last last time, learned something new about his companion, and yet, he was getting nowhere close to truly solving the mystery. He knew who 007n7 was of course, but he didn't know who 007n7 was, and he didn't even know if he would ever learn to know that. Maybe it was time to take a different angle for the investigation soon?
1x1x1x1 stomped his way into the kitchen, just to see if there was anything he could make to satisfy his post match cravings. After looking through the disorganized cabinets he found a cup of instant ramen that no one had seemingly claimed. Although the thing said that it was 2 years past its expiration date, It's not like he cared. He couldn't get sick anyways.
He grabbed the instant ramen, set it on the counter, grabbed a cup and filled it with water from the faucet, and then he placed the water in the microwave that only worked around half the time, and he slowly watched as it spun around inside, he just kept standing there as he waited for it to be over, only staring at something else when he saw out of the corner of his eye that both Slasher and Noli walked into the kitchen, both of them looking like they wanted something to feast on as well. He then immediately went back to staring at the spinning water. Noli himself walked into the kitchen, and began to rummage through the cabinets
“y@ kNow if th3rEs any M0rE of THose R@m3n N00Dles?” Noli asked, shoving everything out of order in the cabinets
“Even if they were, they would all be expired” 1x1x1x1 spat, as they saw the cup of water fully stop spinning.
“Wh@t a BumMer. DoEs that Me@n Yo-re risKIng the Chanc3 of S!cknesS?” Noli closed the cabinet and walked out of that area after accepting the fact that he would be unable to find any noodles. In his place, Slasher walked in, opened the cabinet and grabbed a bag of chips that had his name already written on it, placed it on the counter below, and he began to put everything back into its previous order.
“Cant get sick. And even if I could, I wouldn't care” 1x1x1x1 began pouring the water in. The noodles began to smell like… the opposite of what noodles were supposed to smell like.
“Wh@t aN interest!ng f3at. Th3 aver@ge Robl0xian woUld craVe foR sucH p0wer.” Noli had moved to sit at the table
“...”
“NoT suR3 h0w yOu feel aboUt i-t, buT i Kn0w wh3n I FounD ouT I c0uln’T geT siCk anyMor3, I CelebRated”
“...so does that mean that you would take the noodles if I hadn't gotten to them first.” 1x1x1x1 deadpanned
“G00dness no. I W-uldnt will!ngly eaT expir3rd fOOd. N0t anymore”.
Slasher had finished fixing up the cabinet's contents again. He grabbed the bag of chips and then hit Noli in the head with his free hand to remind him to make sure to fix the mess that he had made next time he went searching through the cabinets for anything. Noli slightly glitched as he was hit, but it didn't seem that Slasher cared much, because soon enough, he was out and about to god knows where.
1x1x1x1 stared at the noodles. The more they cooked, the more unappetizing they seemed. He didn't actually need to eat but…. He needed something to not make his mouth feel so dry and desolate. He grabbed a random spoon from the cupboard, which turned out to be a pink kid’s spoon, and began poking the abomination of a meal.
“YoU w@nn-a siT doWn? Th3r3s sp@ce in th3 tablE” Noli called out, pulling out the chair next to him. Pulling out the chair for 1x1x1x1.
Under normal circumstances, 1x1x1x1 would decline. Most of the time he. Well, it's not like he didn't like being around Noli. It's just, he would actively seek him out.
…But.
He had been intending to talk to Noli anyways.
If anyone knew what 007n7 was hiding… It was probably Noli.
“...ill be right there” 1x1x1x1 murmured, and slowly brought the noodles with him to the table, making sure he didn't spill anything so as to not burn himself (also, as to not get any of the putrid smell on him). He put the food on the table and sat down.
“J3-pers” Noli winced at the smell. “I d-nt th!nk thos3 are norm@l no0dles. No no0dle shOUld sm-ll li-ke that”
He didn't say anything. He wasn't going to spend his valuable time talking about the noodles. He aggressively grabbed a big spoonful of them and shoved them in his mouth. They tasted…. About as well as you might expect. More specifically, they tasted like finely aged mold. The average person wouldn't be able to stomach them. But, sadly, 1x1x1x1 was not a normal person. He was a little freak that had definitely eaten stuff that he wasn't supposed to before. So they kept eating, as Noli watched in horror.
“....I th-nk I l0st my app3titE….” he gagged, and began to get up from the table. However, he was stopped when 1x1x1x1 suddenly choked out “wait.” in between spoonfuls.
Noli found himself sitting down again. 1x1x1x1 knew that the only reason he would have stayed is because Noli knew 1x1x1x1 liked being left alone, so it was incredibly odd that he wanted him to be there now, and he didn't want that person to read. The faux deity sighed, putting his hands in his face “F-n3. I’ll stAy. J-sT pl3@se, g3t soMe mannEr-s.”
He finished the cup as fast as he could and he set it aside. He quickly moved his gaze towards the doorway to make sure that there wasn't anyone rapidly approaching (He had a feeling Noli wouldn't want to be asked about his past with more than 1 other person in the room, especially if said person was Coolkid), and when he had a feeling no one was going to come, he stared directly back at Noli.
“....I have… A question.” 1x1x1x1 murmured.
“....Ok-y? N0 ne3d to b3 sO crypTic. Wh@t !s it?” Noli inquired
“...” He hesitated for a second, not knowing fully if he was going to get a response or if he was taking it too far, but nevertheless he spoke “....Its about… Coolkid’s father.”
That seemingly changed Noli’s entire demeanor again. Much like how he did before, much like how he did on the very first day that they were all there. He wasn’t sure how Noli was feeling before, but now? 1x1x1x1 had a feeling that he was uneasy at best and… uncomfortable at worst. He too, also looked at the doorway to make sure no one was approaching, and then got back to the conversation
“...[[Fudge]]... Y-oU. Yo-U kn0w wh-t. JusT sp!t i-t out. Wh@t’s the [[Freaking]] qu3sti0n?”He grumbled.
“....I just want to know how much you know about him.”
Silence. The most gut wrenching kind of silence ever conceived by god. 1x1x1x1 stared at Noli, who was now seemingly staring at the ground, with both of his hands on his forehead, grabbing his hair. Welp, it seemed that he was probably not going to get anything out of his lead. He looked like he didn't want to be pressed on further, and as much as 1x1x1x1 was fixated on learning about 007n7…. He wouldn't dare do it at the cost of someone being pressured into revealing something they clearly didn't want to talk about. Plus, this reaction would probably guarantee that 007n7, to a degree, was a bad person…right?
1x1x1x1 began to get up from his chair an-
“Y’kn0w what.” Noli grunted as soon as he saw his companion on the process of leaving “ S!t y0ur [[buttocks]] b@ck d0wn on th@t cha!r. I c0uld L!e anD saY I d0n’t kn0w anyTHing exc-pt tHat h3 iS anoYing To f!ghT. B-t yoU and I w-oulD knOw th@ts a Li3. S0 I’ll t@lk. JusT. PL-EAs3 TELl ME. WhY THe [[Fudge]] aRE Y0U ASkING ABOuT TH@T.. ABouT ThAT… ABoUT THAT M@N?!?1 ”
Didn't need to tell 1x1x1x1 twice. He sat his ass right back down on the chair.
‘...don't tell anyone else but. Ever since… Coolkids’ birthday. I have… I have been talking with 007n7. I've become… acquainted with him”
“...HUH?!?!?”
“...not all the time but. Sometimes, when he's usually the last man. I kinda just… let him go. And then he just talks to me about whatever. He’s… a very good conversationalist.”
“...”
“The thing is. Even though he does act nice and Coolkid says he's nice…. It seems that his fellow survivors don't really seem to fancy him, like at all. Considering you're the only other person apart from the kid that I know knows 007n7 more personally here and even though I could ask the kid more about his dad I don't want to cause I know that he's just going to end up glazing him to the high heavens… I just wanted to know if the reason his fellowmen don't like him was because of something stupid, or if it had actual weight behind it and it means that… maybe this “friendship” for lack of a better word, wasn't worth keeping.” 1x1x1x1 finished speaking, stared at Noli for a bit, before adding “... Not like… I'm frankly any better, of course. But there are certain things I do draw a line at.”
That seemed to… ease Noli a bit? Probably because he got a feeling that 1x1x1x1 was telling the truth and he wouldn't use anything he shared against him later on.
“ok@y. FirsT 0ff aLL. Y0ure [[Freaking]] M3nt@l. Spe@king, b3inG fr!ends W!th a SurviV0r? WiTH the EN3MY? whEn the sp3cter saId th@t the One thINg we h@d To do wAs KILL the surv!v0rs… AnD yoU’r3 doIng the OppoSIte of ThaT? 1x1x1x1, yOu’re [[Freaking]] InsaNe. G0d knOws whAt the SpectER w!ll dO iF he FindS out. But EyY. Im n0t gonna SniTch.”
“... ill take whatever comes from me if I get caught. Not like I really care if I do get caught. . But, this isnt about that. Continue” 1x1x1x1 stated.
“S-cond of All. Th3 r3as0n whY moSt of Th3 surVivors Hat3 him w@s beCaus3 h3 w@s a Hack3r”
“I have heard them call him that before, but I am not sure as to what scale was the damage he caused upon the general masses”
“W3ll, It d!d happ3n arOund 10 yeArs ago, so its bas!cally 0ld n3ws aT thiS poiNt, buT it was To a CatastrOpic ExtEnnt. H3 treaT3d The w0rld Lik3 it w@s juSt a Gam3. AnytHinG tHat w@s on hiS paTh w@s faIr gam3 to be toYed wiTh. He-e wa@s the KinD of exPloiter that DidnT stoP at anyTHing t0 g3t h-is AdrEnaline RuSh. H- w-as n0t th3 fIrst oF hi-s Kind, th3 la-st of hIs kind, Or th3 strOngest Of h-is Kind. BuT. H-3 was On-e oF h!s kInd, and f0r any Norm@l RoblOxian, ThaT was reaSon enougH. And He diDnt eveN get CauGHt and PuNihs-ed LiKe Oth3r exPlotiters, O-H no. He Jus-t… STopEd onE daY, and DissApeared Of the Face of EartH. I Had No Idea WhaT he wa-s dOINg These PasT 10 Years, BuT soMEthing Is CleaR to Me noW: H3 turn3d Over a NeW L3@f anD BegaN RaIsIng thAt Squ-irt.”
“...Is that also why you hate him?” 1x1x1x1 looked at him curiously “is that why you ended up…. Turning out this way? Cause you were a victim to one of his exploits?”
“Ah… Y3s- bUt Also N0. Let m3 bre@k it dowN biT b-y bit. I w-As not A VictIm of One O-f his exPloits. Ju-sT the OppOsite ActUallY. I W-as an AccomPlice. It wo-uld Be Hyp0criticAl for Me to NOt lIke him ANymore f0r som3thing I t00 engaged in ”Noli cleared up.
“I see.” 1x1x1x1 muttered. A silence filled the room again, and it wasnt till Noli took a deep breath to calm himself down that he continued. It seemed like the more he spoke, the more he glitched
“I-i a-m not. G0ing To gO inTo toO mUch DetAil ABouT thiS . I Would-nt be ABle t0 WithOut BreaKIng doWn But. The ReAsoN wHy I DonT LiKe ANyMore iS that. FranKLy. He W@s A ChicKen. W3 haD a Pl@n To D0 SOmethiNg TogethTer. And At th3 very L@sT SecOnd HE chick3ned Out. That [[Goshdarn Scallywag]]. H3 LeFt wh3n I w@S alReadY At Th3 PoiNt Of No RetUrn. AnD TheN H3 NEver Cam3 bAck. AnD Th-3n I cOme H3r3, To ThiS [[Wretched]] ReAlm, OnLY to FinD ouT ForM that SquiRt he’S beeN LEaviNG A DouBle LIfe ThiS whOle FuCkInG TIme IVe been SUffERing.” A Pause, one shaky breath, seemingly to get all the glitches in control “ H3 doEsNT KnoW iT. And H3ll, He MAy N3v3r Know IT, BuT. HE IdIrecTly CausEd Me To BeCome The WaY I Hav3 BecoMe. AnD If He Did SOmehOW FiNd Out WhAT I have B3com3, IM N0t evEn suRe If He woULd [[Fudging]] CaRe.”
1x1x1x1 sat in silence as they processed all this information. Still not the full story, but he had way, way more than before, and way way more than he was expecting.
Mmh…
.
.
“...There's many things that happened to me that I wish I didn't, many mistakes I made that I wish I could take back, many things I ruined that I wish that I could fix...“
.
.
Yeah that checked out. Knowing both his past and his present, 1x1x1x1 could see how 007n7 had become the way he had become.
“...If.. if it makes you feel any better. It seems that he holds remorse for at least some if not all the bad things he has done. At least that's what he told me. Maybe he doesn't hold remorse for leaving you waiting.” 1x1x1x1 Chocked out.
Noli seemed to acknowledge what he said, but he didn't say anything back about it. Instead he tried diverting his attention away from…seemingly all of what he just vented, and instead focused mostly everything back to 1x1x1x1.
“S0…. WhAts The VerDict? Ya G0t the InfO you WantEd? Or Do YOU neeD mor3? If You NEEd mor3 then [[Fudge]] OFf CaUse Im nOt go!ng To GiVe AnyMore.” He Spat.
“What you gave me was frankly more of what I was expecting. I got what I needed and maybe even more” 1x1x1x1 said tentatively. Noli slightly deflated
“Gr3aT. Th@t jusT meaNs I [[Freaking]] Ov3rSh-red”
“....but.”
“...BuT?”
“... It has helped me reach my conclusion. It answered my original question, but a new question has appeared before me”
“...Wh!ch iS?”
“At first… At first I just wanted to know who 007n7 was. And now , now that I know, I'm even more intrigued by him. I want to know if he has truly changed his life for the better, or if he's living in lies. I just find him… I just find him really fascinating… everything about him, really. I have to know just how deep his tale goes.”
1x1x1x1 though he sounded like a cool detective that was gearing up to solve the case of the century, but he could see that Noli was giving him a weird face.
“FAcinated On h!s… “stOry?” Oh, Im suRe its Just the stOry. Oh. I’m Sur3 ” Noli gibed
“...what do you mean by that….?”
“... D0nT wOrrY abOUt It.”
Another silence followed, but this one actually felt appropriate and wasn't as uncomfortable as the last few.
“AnYwAys, If You’Re gonN@ keeP TaLKinG To HiM, Th3n FranKLy I DonT car3 beCauSe Th@ts Non3 Of My BuiSneSS.” Noli got up from his chair, looking like he had full intention to leave now. This time, 1x1x1x1 wouldn't stop him. “H0weVer, IF he EveR DoEs AnYTHing MaLICioUs TowaRds yoU, J-st Tell M3. I WiLL Kick His [[bootycheeks]] If He DoeS.”
1x1x1x1 looked at Noli weirdly, and he argued “ He could never hurt me. He is but a nervous wreck of a man. Plus I'm the Killer here. I could probably hurt him more than he could hurt me”
“Mmh. Ye@h Ye@h sur3. WeLL, Y0u n3v-r Kn0W” and with that Noli was out of the vicinity, leaving 1x1x1x1 more or less the same way he was when he originally entered that room: Alone, with a (now empty) cup of expired ramen noodles near him, a dry mouth, and a strong, strong strong craving to continue on in uncovering the depths of the rest of the secrets 007n7 was hiding.
It felt like it was rather late into the night. At this time, 1x1x1x1 would be asleep already, flying away merrily into dream land (...kinda… he didn't usually have dreams). But something was stuck in his mind. Something that kept playing over and over again on loop. Something, which, although wasn't 007n7 himself, was kind of connected to him. He just couldnt understand… why the fuck did noli say that?
“...FAcinated On h!s… “stOry?” Oh, Im suRe its Just the stOry. Oh. I’m Sur3...”
…what did Noli mean by this?
He sat up from his bed, accepting the fact that he wasn't gonna fall asleep soon. Bleh. Like accepting that was gonna make him think any better.
He thought it was just curiosity and suspicion he had towards 007n7. He thought. He thought.
But the way that Noli said that… it felt like there was some sort of… romantic connotation behind it?
1x1x1x1, who was at one point one of the most feared people of robloxia, the destruction of worlds, the menace to society, malice itself incarnate… the definition of hatred… falling in love? With… what was basically now a common man?The sheer idea of that was just… stupid! Ididotic even! Such a thing… that didn't make sense. It shouldn't make sense. It shouldn't. It shouldn’t
Even then
Once he saw it less from a detective lens… and now… from a general lens…. It… was…. Fun..? being around him….it was…. really … nice
007n7 was a good conversationalist. Sure. but there was more to that. He was… very nice. He spoke gently… calmly, and he was very well aware and seemingly very ok with the fact that 1x1x1x1 was no conversationalist at all. He did not care, he still treated him with kindness. The same kindness that Coolkid showed towards 1x. The same kind of respect. As if he was human. As if he was someone that mattered. Someone past destruction. But he wasn't like Coolkid. He wasn't annoying, extroverted, or pushy. He wasn't perfect either, he was clearly flawed. Obviously, he wasn't a saint. He wasn't a good person, based on everything heard today. But neither was 1x1x1x1.
1x1x1x1 was never meant to be a good person.
He sat with his face pressed against his knees, hands grabbing his legs, looking like at any second he would just fall back into laying into bed, but all curled up into a ball this time.
He could pretend like stuff was how it was back before. He could pretend that he was still just a detective slowly uncovering clues. But he can't anymore. Once you take the lens off you can't put it back on. You can't. You can't. You can't.
He could just let this feeling rot inside of him for… forever, and just watch every single interaction that he has 007n7 play out as they always have done, with nothing new added onto them. Just the same song and dance they have been playing. But at one point, the secret would fall, it would eventually have to come out, and even if it truly didn't, he didn't know if he could live that way. Longing for something he knew he could never have. Like how he had been doing all his life. Everything he had, he knew he didn't deserve, but he still longed for it. Why? Why?
The other option was to be honest and admit these feelings to the man. But it felt like it was still too soon. He would feel like such a weirdo even admitting it in the first place. What would happen even then? There was no guaranteed outcome. He could look at him weird, say “fuck off” and then he would never see him again. He could be like “ok” but then not say anything and show no signs of reciprocation and then things would go back to normal even though they would never be truly normal because there would be an elephant in the room that would never be addressed. And even if he said yes and they somehow got together, what then? The chance of everything turning out alright for the rest of eternity was small. They could be incompatible. They could become toxic. He could turn out to be actually apathetic towards him and be only using him for his own gain, or even turn out to be abusive. It wasn't fully out of the question. He abandoned Noli because he got cold feet. Who knows if 1x1x1x1 would be spared of such abandonment in the future as well? He probably wouldn't be spared.
On the other hand, 1x1x1x1 could do something that would accidentally hurt him and then just cause a strain. He could step over a boundary that was never meant to be stepped on. Hell, he could accidentally turn out to be the toxic abusive one because. He didn't know what would be ok and not ok, and even if he did, there could still be a chance that he would mess up. It's so scary. It's so scary to think about.
Even though they read all those love stories, watched all those romcoms, learned about all those love focused fairytales, learned the basics of love over and over again…. He never learned what it truly entails, what it truly means, what it truly was about. Just how… intricate everything was. And he didn't even know if he could learn. Someone like him… someone that was made… made for a particular purpose, wasn't meant to stray away from that purpose.
Someone made out of hate wasn't meant to love. Or even receive said love.
.
The night was dead silent.
Everyone was probably asleep by this point.
1x1x1x1 made the decision to stop sitting down, and instead fully committed and laid down in his bed, curled up into a ball. Hiding from the outside world.
And then he sniffled
He sobbed
He cried
And cried
And cried again, and he let his wails fill the silence that was before present.
He cried because he didn't know anything. He didn't know what he was going to do. He just didn't know.
He didn't even know if he was supposed to feed into this stupid, childlike fantasy. This fantasy built upon the false sense of hope that he was actually human like the one he loved.
He said he wasn't supposed to feel this way
Not after everything that happened.
He said he wasn't supposed to feel this way
He knew
He knew
He knew.
….He just wasn't sure if he was lying or not anymore.
Notes:
WOOOO sorry this took a bit to publish the next chapter was actually kicking my but while writing it. it turned out way longer than i expected. well, i mean, this one aslo turned out way longer than i excpeted.... is that a good thing?
Aslo apologies for the brick i genuelly didnt mean for this to get so angty it just kind of happen. Im pretty sure the original outine was something like "1x1x1x realizes they have feelings for 007n7 and they crash out?" i didnt expcet the crashout to be this.... this big of a crashout. With that being said brick warning for the next chapter... the next chapter will explain some stuff that 1x was babbling about in their crashout thats all ima say
I think my biggest challenge here was writing Noli tbh. A point of critisim I see a lot of people point out is that usually they make Noli's character only about 007n7 and hes used more as a plot device to aid 007n7 rather than as his own person. And I was like "Ok, guess we gotta lock in and learn Noli lore to make sure he comes out as his own person" and then i looked into Forsaken Noli lore and what do you know, it only revloves around 007n7. and I was like "damm ok i can see why that happens now". I tried my hardest as I could with what I had to make Noli kind of feel like his own person..? Im still not fully satisifed with it though so im going to give him maybe his own moment later in the fic.
I want to make this aslo clear at this point that not everyone here is nessecearly a good person? theyre all flawed, and most of them have deffetnly hurt a lot of people. But its aslo important to understand everyone's side of the story in order to get the full picture. everyone will make some mistake at some point, and I will proabbly call them out on it, but im going to just straight up demonize them (obiosuly though, charcaters that do more henious actions will be held to a higher accountability level) . And to add to that, since the story is primaly form 1x1x1x1's point of view, it might change who gets called out and who doesnt... I think this entire thing just comes from the fact that I enjoy complex charcaters :^
With that being said, thank you so much for reading, and i hope you all have a wonderful day! aslo, thanks so much for 2k hits! :D <3
Chapter 8: VII: Overflowing Well
Summary:
1x1x1x1 thinks about their past and about why it shouldn't be possible for them to fall in love
Notes:
" The path you showed me how to walk was cold
Algorithmic dreams, a vessel of your soul
Through her eyes of perfect ambiguity
We were born to keep the world in harmony
[...]
The core of my design
Your eyes look down at mine
It never truly ends
As metal breaks and bends
The path you walk eternally is cold
Knowing clarity is out of our control
I can't understand the way you seem to pray
But reality's contorting at your say
[...]
And yet you live between these states
Never belonging, in a futile daze
But were the ethics appraised?
Now it's too late
I feel you're lost in the holy gate, ahh"
-Chapter song: End-World Normopathy - Ghost and Pals
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
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.
.
It was not a normal day in the hall of the gods.
It knew, because life there was always so mundane. It always knew how the average routine played out, exactly what happened, exactly what it did for a living.
It tried switching things up sometimes. It tried painting murals, but they were covered up. It tried to cause some sort of chaos in order to get Telamon's attention, but it was to no avail. It would just get shoved in its room and be ignored even more. It tried doing nice things for the man sometimes, it really did convince itself that they could have some sort of caring, familiar relationship going on, but it wasn't met with anything but an acknowledging grunt. It couldn't even do some of the things it used to be able to do. Telamon wouldn't even allow it anywhere near swords. It wasn't stupid, however, as they had a spare hair hidden and it would practice with them when telamon wasn't there. It hated this routine, but what could it even do? The last time it tried to run away, to go see the outside world, it was quickly caught and was locked in its room for 10 days straight. So it just had to wait as life went on, and on, and on.
It had been about a couple of years since they last attempted to get Telamon to be its dad and for it to be their child, at least by directly asking him. The last indirect attempt happened about 11 months ago. It just already knew what the answer was going to be. So it just did what it was best at and fell into routine, just occasionally causing ruckus from time to time. Risking punishment was the only way its brain could get some form of a thrill
That's why today was so odd .
For the first time in god knows how long Telamon and it weren't the only people present in the hall.
Some of the gods had… seemingly gone back? For a quick visit.
It stood hidden the second it heard unfamiliar voices, and it watched the newcomers walk in from behind a wall.
Telamon stood there, with a warm smile on his face, as he welcomed 3 other people in. They all had robes, but each robe was unique, each robe was colorful, and it could see very well each of the personalities of the owners of the robe shine through the cloth. The newcomers also looked different from each other, and different from Telamon. One of them had the same golden sheen as Telamon, but instead had medium length purple hair that was… rather messily kept. It seemed she was a woman, and it also seemed that past the robe, she had no need for formalities, as she wore some fully painted rainbow glasses. Her robe itself was mostly white, but had a bunch of small rainbow chains and other sorts of rainbow decal on it. The next person, seemingly a man, also didn't look like he cared that much about how he presented as well, because his robe was properly put on and it could see he had a hoodie underneath. Both their skin and their hair were an ashy shade of grey, and he seemingly decided to keep his hood off so he could continue wearing a construction hat of sorts. His robe was incredibly simple, just being smooth, dark grey, and featuring no form of decal whatsoever except for a red belt that went around his waist. The third person didn't exactly look human like the rest of them, as they had a pumpkin for a head with antlers coming out of it. Based on their voice, it seemed like it was another man, and his robes were longer than everyone else's, sleeves fully hiding his hands, and the robe itself not only covering his feet, but also trailing behind him. It had a bit of fur around the neck and the rim of the hood, and it was a grey-ish light blue in color with star decal on it, mostly prevalent on the sleeves. He also carried a huge wooden staff with him. Telamon, standing there, with his fully black robe that featured extensive yellow decal, looked like he belonged extremely well amongst them. It didn't know any of their names, so they would probably refer to them by…. The color of their robes! Yes, yes. That sounded like a good plan
To be fair, the reason why Telamon looked like he belonged was because he truly did belong, they all belonged with each other. They were the same kinda people. They were all gods after all.
It kept watching attentively, hiding as best as they could, as these people spoke
“Man, it sure has bin' a whileeee since aah last stepped foot he-yah.” Dark Grey hummed, and it took note that he spoke in a funny accent “'n yet, it still looks relatively the same. Well, except the walls. Didja do a recent paint job on 'em, Tel?”
“You could say” Telamon beamed “I just thought they needed a little touch up.”
Touch up mouch up. Bleh. It knew that the real reason that the walls were repainted was to hide the murals it made.
The gaggle of people moved to the direction where it knew the dining room that had never ever been used was. As such, it began trailing behind them, trying to not get too close, but also not stray too far. And it kept eavesdropping about what they were conversing about.
“Anyways, I am so glad you all could make it here for this very special meeting” Telamon said “I just thought hosting this here with a small party would be fun. A trip down memory lane, ya know?”
“ We are happy to be here by your side on this special day. Now there is a question I must explain." Light Blue spoke up. It seemed like he only spoke in rhymes “How long has it been? How long have you and Brigtheyes expressed your longing towards each other that you found within?”
White spoke up “it's been 10 years! Isn't that crazy? 10 years. That's a whole decade! Thinking about that… It makes me really really ecstatic." It seemed that White’s true name was Brighteyes…. And…. she was… Telamon's lover? He… he of all people… he had a lover?
It would have scoffed, but it knew it would probably have been heard. Still though, the concept of this was just absolutely ridiculous. So he was capable of showing love! He was capable of caring! If he truly didn't care about this Brighteyes person… then they probably would have decided to end things long ago! So if he was capable of caring for her… then why wouldn't he care for it…?
It had to keep eavesdropping. It had to find out.
“Ten years is a crazy long time. They are lak a bajillion things aah could do in ten years” Dark Grey walked ahead of the group and pushed open the big, tall, gigantic doors that lead to the dining hall. The doors themselves were taller and wider than all of them combined, and it had to crank its neck all the way up in order to actually see the top of the doors. It had never actually been inside of the dining room. This place had always been locked away and it could never actually find the key for it. But once it got hit with the feel of warm sunrays hitting its face, even as far away as it was from the group of gods, it could see why it was kept hidden away in such a way that it would never be allowed inside of it. The walls of the place were even taller than the doors and huge pillars adorned them. Some of the walls had stained glass windows, some of them had gorgeous murals, murals that even it could not dream of replicating. Some of them were blank, but they were still as beautiful as the other walls. There were many huge, uniform holes in the very top of the tall walls that allowed the natural light of the sky to just shine into the room and adorn it in a warm glow. The ceiling itself had about 3 gigantic glass chandeliers that were evenly spread out through the length of the room. There was a dining table in the middle that was about a normal width but incredibly long, stretching across the room and having at the very least 50 chairs positioned in it. This room felt like it was rather empty, however, as what…4..? 5 people? That few people didn't need this space. Atleast, not anymore.
It was so invested in taking in all the information it just learned about this area of the house that it had never ever explored before that it didn't realize it when the gaggle of long time friends began making their way to the other very side of the room, where the most glamorous of the chairs were, each one as well, being incredibly elegant and intricately crafted to the point that much like the robes, the chairs also reflected the personalities of their owners. It could probably already tell where everyone was going to sit down.
Since the people seemingly were just going to be sitting there for a really long time, it decided that maybe it was best to get under the table in order to keep a low cover and continue eavesdropping on them. It was still in bewilderment that Telamon, seemingly the world's coldest man, had friends, and a girlfriend no less. So it crawled under the table, it crawled and it crawled until it could see the bottom of the robes and the tips of their shoes peeking through the medium length table cloth.
“Well, how do we feel about feasting right now?” Telamon chirped, and it could hear the sound of him casting some kind of magical spell. It had read in the books that the gods used their magic to create stuff, as they were all well immersed in just the sheer raw power imagination had and they knew how to bend it to their will to make almost anything. Except that, it had rarely, if ever, actually seen it be used for that. Usually Telamon used his powers to lock the door in its room when he needed to punish it so it wouldn't escape.
It seemed like this time he used his powers to summon a plate of…. Something, as it heard something fall on the table and make a clattering sound
“You don't have to waste your whole powers into making this feast, my friend. Here, I’ll help you and I will ensure to make a feast that will make us all ascend” it could see Light blue stand up from his seat momentarily and tap his staff on the ground, and suddenly, the sound of multiple clattering plates falling into their places in the table could be heard. Usually, it wouldn't be such a minor sound, but it being under the table just made it hear the sound louder
“My god! You’re such a show off!” The Brighteyes person spoke up, giggling. “I gotta be careful or else you’re going to steal my thunder!”
“I do not “show off” Such an accusation makes me scoff.” Light blue said, sitting back down.
“Enough chit-chat, lets dig en before them food gets cold!” Dark grey said, and for about a good 3 minutes all it could hear was the sounds of plates clattering and lightly colliding against each other, people shuffling around to grab whatever, and the occasional “can you pass the potato salad to me?” or “can i have the salt?” or "don't you think you're grabbing too many chicken legs?”. It didn't know that meetups between friends could actually feel… this boring.
But hey, maybe it felt boring because none of these people were its friends. They were all Telamons. Oh, and also, it was hiding and while it expected some kind of like, bombshell to drop that would change its entire life, all it got was people playfully bartending about who deserved the last croissant.
Suddenly, it heard something falling to the floor, kind of under the table but not really, and it could see very well what it was that fell down. It was a fork. Metal, but also looked handmade due to all the star patterns that were on it. The craftsmanship on it was frankly amazing.
“Ah! My apologies! I didn't mean to drop that! I'll fetch it right now” Brigheyes sheepsily said, and it was then that it realized that it could be rather easily seen from under the table, as easily as it could see these people’s shoes. Even if it tried running away in order to not be spotted it would probably be heard and posted and that would probably be even worse. It was most likely going to get caught.
Maybe if it stayed really still and didn't move at all it wouldn't be spotted? It was pretty dark under the table…
It watched in fear as a sleeved hand went down and moved around in search for the said fork, only to consistently miss it. The hand went up again. It thought it was in the clear for a second. But then she said “Ah! Silly me, excuse me for a second but I need to bend down and reach under the table because I can't feel or see the fork very well” and she did exactly as she said. She got on her knees and reached down to grab the fork. At first, it thought that she only saw the fork, and it thought it was in the clear for good. And she looked like she was going to get up any second now. But in the process of bending back up again, it could tell that there was something that caught her eye, and soon enough, she took a second to scan the area. And she noticed it just… sitting there, hidden.
Once it could tell that she was staring right at its eyes filled with nothing but shock through her rainbow shades, it knew that she knew that it had probably been there the whole time.
She stood up and put the fork on the table.
Only to then come back and pull it out of the table, helping it stand up and adjusting its robe.
“Well what a surprise! Turns out there was more than just a fork under the table!” She ruffled its hair. The way she did it was a lot more gentle than how Telamon did it “How did you get here little buddy? Are you lost?”
Before it, or literally anyone else could say anything, Telamon got up from his chair at lightning speed and walked up to it, still smiling, but it could see there was something else creeping up behind his eyes, something way less forgiving
“Ahh… dont worry your sorry head about this Brighteyes, allow me to deal with it ” He said, and he ushered it out of brighteyes personal space, only to move it away from the table, were it now noticed at the very end of this side of the room was a door much like the one in the other side of the room. Telamon opened the door ever so slightly and moved both himself and it outside and then he closed the door behind them.
“We’ll talk about this later” was all he said, in a low hushed tone, only to open the door back up again and step inside, and close the door as quickly as he could. It could hear the sound of his magic acting up again, and when it tried moving the doorknob or opening the door in any other way it found that it was now locked and put in place.
It didn't know what to do and it wasn't even sure if it was allowed to go, so it decided to just lean against the door, just to see if it could still hear the gaggle of people talking. And it found, if really focused, if it really put all its mental strength into it, it could hear what they were saying, ever so faintly. Maybe the reason was because the room was just so echoey. And thankfully for it too, since everyone had such particular voices and speaking patterns, it could still tell who was who
“so.... are ya not 'unna talk about the fact that there was a random ass young'un under the table?” Dark grey expressed
“Make no mistake, that is no kid.” Telamon stated bluntly. It grimaced at this, but whatever. It already knew it was its creation. To be a child is to be a son or a daughter, no? And it was neither of those
“If not a kid, then what could it possibly be? And more importantly, why are they here?” Light Blue inquired
“ It is just some unfinished business I have to deal with,” Telamon said “once I'm done sorting everything out, it should be none of your concern anymore. And more importantly, I’ll finally be ready to join you all back to earth”
It seemed like there was a pause from anyone from talking, till Brighteyes spoke up “...That doesn't look just like unfinished business. Is there something you're not telling us? You… you can't just keep this from us, you know? We’re your friends. Hell, I'm your girlfriend . If you need help with, like, anything , you just have to say”
“It is frankly, a rather complicated situation” Telamon said, and he remained silent. It's like, he didn't want to speak, but the others expected him too. They wanted him to just say anything. And it just leaned as much as it could to the door, pressing its ear against the wood as much as it could, having the same kind of anticipation, if not more, than everyone else in that room combined. It was like the first time that Telamon was talking about it and not to it.
“Just spit it out!” Dark Grey Barked.
"Fine." Telamon fumed, and it sounded like he slammed his glass on his table out of anger.
“You all already know how back in the older days the mortals despised me because I was just too rude and hostile and hate-filled or whatever. And no matter how hard I tried to change I still managed to fall back into old habits? Well here is my solution since they all wanted me to change so fucking MUCH!! ….I create a catalyst whose job is meant to passively feed off my hatred and contain it within itself, and once every single drop of it is finally consumed by it, I get rid of it .”
It didn’t know who the other people were feeling about it, as it couldn't see their faces, but its heart just dropped .
….Hes going to ……kill…. me?
It was going to begin to spiral, until it heard someone speak up again. It was Dark Grey again, bless his soul.
“...Ok??! AND?!? catalyst or creation or whatever... "it" still looks lak 'n acts lak a kid. Why not tell we’uns? we can still help ya with raisin' 'em, they can still have a good life, even if they have to die someday. Why would ya keep this from us!? ” He barked back
“....”Telamon scoffed, but he elaborated anyway “it looks like a kid because it's trying to trick you into giving it sympathy. It's going to grow to become merciless, ruthless and violent because at the end of the day, it's just sheer hatred. That's what it is. What if I give it all it wants and like yeah, its fine at first or whatever, but then it slowly grows to become violent and it ATTACKS me and I find myself in a moment of weakness because I've grown so attached to it and now I cant fight back cause I dont want to hurt it ? I don't want that. Cause it's going to end up with me dead and a beast being unleashed upon Roblox that will end up destroying everything. If I don't get attached to it and it grows knowing that it is just there out of necessity, no such disaster will happen.”
…It didn't want to hear anything this… this MAN… this wretched, evil, DESPICABLE man had to say anymore . It found itself running as fast as its two thin legs could carry it back into its room. It felt awful about the fact that Light Blue and especially Dark Grey had such an awful friend like this man, and it felt awful that this monster of a man was with seemingly such a lovely lady like Brigtheyes. But most importantly, it felt awful about the fact that before, it didn't know anything at all, but now, it knows too much.
It knew it was a creation, but it didn't know why they were created. But now it knew, and it knew why it wasn't treated like all the other children, and that someday, it would die . And it would die to the hands of the very person that brought it here .
It didn't even feel safe in its own room, its own home anymore. Who knows how long till he was truly purified? It could be in ten thousand years. It could be literally tomorrow. But every single day, it would have to live in fear of thinking it was its last .
Now it made sense why it was isolated, ignored, and its swords kept being taken away for whatever reason. He didn't want anyone to get attached to it, he didn't want himself getting attached to it, and when the time came…
…he didn't want it to fight back.
It didn't feel particularly hate filled. So it couldn't understand why that was the sole purpose of it. It couldn't see how it was a catalyst, how its job was just to grow to be bad. It did not know how this became its intended purpose and why it had just to lie down and accept this willingly. It knew that children were meant to be their own people. It knew children had their own density. It knew parents couldn't choose the destiny of their kid. It knew that better than anyone else. But it guessed since it wasn't really a child then…. Then… the same rules didn't apply…? Maybe it really would grow stronger and grow angried and soon enough it would feel nothing but hate and destruction and become the monster that its creator stated with such certainty it would grow to be?
Was its only choice just to rot away till its own demise ?
It didn't know how much time had passed ever since it ran away, but it just sat in its bed for what seemed like hours, staring into, nothing really, until Telamon opened its room’s door and made some remark that if guest ever came over again to either stay hidden and not bother them or he was going to make the choice to lock it inside its room, and as quickly as he said that he just left. His distant nature was just so haunting .
It kept staring into nothingness until who knows how long. Truly, its mind did not know how to deal with such damaging information so it just shut down . And it started, and kept staring, hoping, praying, maybe this was all a bad dream, but knowing full on well it wasn't .
.
.
.
1x1x1x1 woke up groggy and disoriented, not remembering anything at first but then she felt everything she felt last night slowly coming back to her, just to a lesser intensity than before .
She didn't know when she had fallen asleep but when she saw slight wet spots on the matters she knew full well that she probably ended up crying herself to sleep.
She felt like she just had a really bad nightmare but she was so tired and unwilling to wake up that she just forced herself to keep on sleeping. Even though she knew it really wasn't a nightmare after all. If it wasnt, she wouldnt be here in the first fucking place anyways.
Mh.
Hmph.
…
WHY THE FUCK DID SHE GET SO SOFT LAST NIGHT ANYWAYS?!?!
To think she had gotten soft for that man in the first place was absolutely disgusting. To think that at her lowest she was even considering she had a chance at a relationship was even worse. She can't let her guard down for anyone. Not now, not ever…well except maybe Coolkid but that's because kids usually aren't inherently malicious. But 007n7 was no kid. Obviously.
She became equally as pissed as she was just a couple of months ago, during the first night she was there, and she grabbed one of the swords and threw it at the wall, where it stuck and left a hole kind of near where the last sword’s hole had been patched up about a week ago. Then she grunted loudly as she got up from her bed and stomped her way to her closet, which she opened the door of with a loud slam.
She should have left with the very first thing she said last night. 1x1x1x1, destructor of the world, evil incarnate, creation of hatred… was not in love. Because the concept of it was just ironic and idiotic. And that was final. No ifs and or butts. Everything else she felt was probably just her mind playing tricks on her.
(As long as she could ignore the pit of denial that was forming in her gut, she should be fine. She should be fine. She knew she pointed out that ignoring this pit would just deal to more destruction, but right now, denial seemed a lot more comforting than actually facing her feelings.).
Right now, she was just pissed. But she was always pissed to some degree, so basically, everything was back to normal! Everything was good and dandy then.
She slammed the door of her closet again after she got the pair of clothes she needed, and after she dressed, she stomped out of her room, slammed the door close and made her way stomping around the house, trying to see what she would do to distract herself before she eventually had to attend her first match of the day.
Today was going to be a normal day.
Nothing will happen that will disrupt her usual routine.
Today was going to be a normal day.
Notes:
Woooo. this chapter was not only a doozy to write, but aslo came out way longer than excpeted! and.... I can aslo say the same thing for the next chapter. the average length of my chapters is getting longer... is that a good thing? maybe... (I kid you not, i sat down yesterday and wrote 4k words. 4k!!! thats a lot! that really a lot, for someone that barely writes!)
anyways, apart from that, i dont have much to say. Some of yall may be wondering why builderman and dusekar didnt recognize that 1x was 1x and vise versa, and basically, from their end, they werent able to connect the dots because they didnt know the kids name and aslo, 1x1x1x1 looked very different back then, so it would be hard to figure out they were the same person. from 1x1x1x1's end, she has had a hunch that maybe theyre the same people. but since she 1. never learnt their names and 2. she had seen other robloxians that kind of looked like them, she just figured that maybe they were different people that looked kind of similar but maybe werent the excat people. Juts wanted to clear that confusion first, as it could be a potential loophole.
From here on out, we are going to start seeing more fluff from the rest of the arcs. Dont get me wrong, there still will be a lot of ups and downs, especially in the next chapter, but the comfort in that hurt/comfort tag will start kicking in. And if it wasnt clear before, we can aslo start to see just how trully broken 1x1x1x. As someone that went through heavy amounts of dehumanization (both from outside sources and self-inflicted) that caused me to be subjected to full identity loss (which are two very important themes of this fic) I feel like it feels right in this contecxt for your mind to be scattered and all over the place, as you try to figure out who you really want to be appart from what others (friends, family, society) wants you to be. That is to say, that as we go on later on, some of the things that 1x1x1x1 does or says or thinks might end up contradicting each other, and I just want to say that isn't intened to be cheap and sloppy writing, its just me mixing my own expirences with how I percieve 1x1x1x1's charcater. It might be hard to understand, but I feel like thats ok.
Thats it for me right now, Thank you so much for 3k hist 215 kudos 90 comments and 24 bookmarks! your support means everything to me, and it genuelly helps my motivation so much. I hope you all have a wonderful day!
Chapter 9: VIII: Making Sense
Summary:
1x1x1x1's plan of ignoring everything 007n7 kickstarts and it ends up failing over and over again. Eventually, it fully backfires and something really bad happens.
She ends up becoming aware of something she should have realized long ago.
(get ready for a rollercoaster of emotions)
Notes:
"If I could begin to be
Half of what you think of me
I could do about anything
I could even learn how to love
[...]
I always thought I might be bad
Now I'm sure that it's true
'Cause I think you're so good
And I'm nothing like you
Look at you go
I just adore you
I wish that I knew
What makes you think I'm so special"
-Chapter song: Love Like you - Rebecca Sugar, from Steven Universe
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
The first thing 1x1x1x1 saw when she went down to the living room that day was John Doe, Slasher, and Coolkid sitting on the couch, while Noli stood between the couch and the wall. They all had blue plastic things on their heads, which all had an insert to seemingly place a card in. and all of them had cards in them. There was a timer on the coffee table, and both John Doe and Slasher had whiteboards in hand, even though it seemed they weren't being used much right now. 1x1x1x1, where she was standing, could not see what cards most of them had, but she could see very clearly that Noli’s card read “Cup” and had a picture of a cup in it.
Ah. They were playing Headbandz.
“..Y0u L0t of FoOLs aRe NOT m@kINg anY SenSe!” the faux deity complained “WHeRE CAn You FI-nd tHis IteM?!?! ItS IT KItCHEN EXcLUSIVE Or WHAt?!?”
1x1x1x1 slowly approached the scene, moving to be just a little bit behind Noli, as she saw the people on the couch try- and fail to- give a conclusive answer. She watched as John Doe nodded his head while Coolkid and Slasher shook it, and then Coolkid wailed “It can be anywhere in the house really! Depending on how messy your family is” while Slasher aggressively wrote on the whiteboard. Once he finished writing on it he lifted it up and it said “Not just in the house, you can probably find this at most restaurants"
Noli grumbled, and he pulled on his hair and hit his head, seemingly as a way to clear his mind, even though that made him glitch out. He took a deep breath and continued complaining “D0 Y0U ALL HAV3 A-NY ID3@ H0W L!tTTLE thAT NARroWS I-T DoWN?!? NOW WH@T AB-”
John Doe raised his hand to stop him from speaking, and then pointed at the sand timer that was on the coffee table. It had fully run out of time. That means the quest to figure out what this mystery item would have to continue later on.
Slasher got up from the couch as Noli now sat in his place. It seemed that now it was his turn to guess, and he was rapidly scribbling on the whiteboard again. At this point, it was when they noticed that 1x1x1x1 was here.
“Hey Mx. 1x!” Coolkid called out, and he got up from his spot on the chair and he grabbed one of the headbands from the box and held it up for her to see “wanna join us?”
Under any other circumstance 1x1x1x1 would avoid playing some stupid boardgame so freaking early on in the morning, but…. Anything to get her mind off from…that. So she nodded, and bent down so the kid was able to replace her trademark domino crown with the headband instead. A card was placed, and with that, she had sealed her fate.
She took a second to study all the other cards everyone had. As stated before, Noli was a Cup. John Doe was a suitcase, Slasher was a fox, and Coolkid was a plate of spaghetti.
“Just so you know before you get all pissy, John Doe and Slasher will get twice the guessing time because it takes less time to speak than it does to write.” Coolkid said.
“Fine by me” She dismissed.
Almost as soon as she said that, Slasher lifted the board up and it said “am I an animal?”
The group collectively nodded, and he began rapidly writing again. His handwriting, although sloppy, was still surprisingly legible
“Am I a mammal?” The group nodded, and he was off to writing again.
“Am I a Bipedal?” The board read.
“What's a bipedal?” Coolkid asked, and Noli ruffled his head as he answered “ItS an AniMAl Th@t w@lKS in 2 LegGs”. And with that, the group collectively shook their heads and he was off writing again.
1x1x1x1 guessed that this game was actually more fun when you weren't in the spot and you were the one actually guessing.
“Do I specialize in hunting?” the board read, and the group nodded, panic seeping through them as they quickly realized that he was getting dangerously close to the answer. Unlike the whole cup debate from either, there was a stronger general idea of what a fox actually is. They waited on the edge of their seats as Slasher’s handwriting got faster and faster, he too realizing that he was getting really really close
He lifted the board slowly, and it read:
“Am I a wolf?”
A collective shake of the head from the group, but they knew the answer was basically guaranteed probably in the next 1 or 2 guesses.
Slasher was in the middle of writing his next guess down just as the timer ran out. Looks like he was going to have to wait to solidify his guess and take away the win. That is, unless someone managed to overthrow him… somehow.
Slasher made his way back as he erased the board while Coolkid sat up and skipped his way to the middle of the room. As soon as Slasher sat down were Coolkid used to be, the timer was flipped, and it was once again guessing time
“Lets see… am I an animal” A collective shake of the head
“Am I… an object?” Another collective shake of the head
“So that means I'm some kind of food” Coolkid said, and the group nodded. He stood there for a second quiet, probably wondering what would be the best course of action to take.
“Is there a vegetable in the recipe of this food?” He asked. Then, confusion soared around the room again. It was like it was back to the cup debate of either. While 1x1x1x1 nodded attentively, the rest of the group scrambled to either speak their mind or write their opinion
“It can be made without a vegetable if you’re really hungry" John Does board read. His handwriting was significantly worse than Slashers.
“Wh-!-le a V3gte@ble cAN be Us3d to m3ke a k3-y ComPon3nt, dePendiNg on Ho0w you mak3 thAt k3y Comp0nent, Y0u dont Re@lly N33d it.” Noli pointed out
“The vegetable is actually better yet classified as a fruit.” Slasher's board read, and it was then 1x1x1x1 realized that she had forgotten that a tomato that would be used to make the tomato sauce for the pasta was in fact, a fruit. All these semi contradicting comments clearly made Coolkid confused, as 1x1x1x1 could see that he was looking at them like he was stuck in the middle of the Sahara desert with no idea of where to go.
“..dang it” Coolkid whispered under his breath, but he quickly relaxed and asked his next question, realizing the timer was running out of time “Uhm…. Does it have meat in it?”
Again, a surge of conflicting answers. Slasher and 1x1x1x1 nodded, while the other two were fast and rapidly writing down their responses or saying what needed to be said
“Again, it can be made without any meat if you’re really hungry” John Doe’s board read.
‘Wh!le in th3 illUstarti0n th@t Is sh0wn hAs M3@t in !t, It D03snt AlWays H@ve M3at in IT. JusT d3p3nds 0n wh@t K-ind YoU get.” Noli pointed out, and that left Coolkid even more stumped. Not like he could do anything about it though, as the timer had run out just as Noli had said his last word.
“Man, I can see why you were so stuck in your guess now Noli! You are also one of the fools you pointed out that don't make any sense!!” Coolkid sassed, and seemingly out of playful banter, they stuck their tongues out at each other like bickering little kids. 1x1x1x1 knew it was a joke but it was rather pathetic to pick a bone with a little kid
1x1x1x1 thought that John Doe was going to get up, but he stayed put.Instead, Coolkid walked up to where she was standing. He grabbed her hand, and tugged on it. “Your turn now Silly! Good luck!” He jeered, and 1x1x1x1 slumped her way to where the guesser stood and Coolkid nicely planted his feet to where she was before. Either way, she was already formulating what plan she would have. She needed her questions to be as specific and straight to the point as possible, kind of how Slasher did it. She didn't know if her item would work against her, but only time will tell.
The timer was flipped, and it took a couple of seconds before she asked her first question.
“...am I food” she said, and to her delight, she got a unanimous nod. Well, she can't blow it now. Let's see.. What would be a good next question”
“....Am I served at restaurants?” She asked, and again, another unanimous nod, with Noli adding “Y0u’r3 R@rellY serv3d aT h!Gh enD on3s ThOUGh.”
She took that as a huge hint, and she used it to aid her next question “So… can I be considered fast food…?” and there was another huge collective nod from the group. She quickly began recalling as many kinds of different fast food that she remembered from tv comercials… mcdonalds, kfc, burger king, dominos, subway… so many different kinds, but still, a huge variety. As such, she needed to purge another option. And she knew what could be a sure way to purge at least a lot of the options
“...am I made with bread?” And to her surprise, she got another nod….huh… is this how it felt to be as precise as Slasher was?
She sat for a second. Thinking about the first bread item that came to her head. Huh! A burger! A burger has bread! Yeah! A burger. She began to envision it
A burger nicely made with meat ,cheese, lettuce and tomatoes…. and … and…and….And…. it sat on the top of a man's head….?
…huh?
.
.
…007n7!
.
.
fuck!
…Why couldn't she stop thinking about him?
Realizing the timer was running out and it only had about enough time for one or two answers, she asked one more clarifying question before she solidified her answer
“...does it have meat in it?” she spat in a hurry, only to get a unanimous nod.
Fuck. fuck. Fucking hell.
Well, there was no time to be hasty right now.
She was about to open her mouth and ask the question, but she heard the sound of…. Phosphorus’s voice got louder as he made his way back into the house, presumably from coming back from a match.
“Hey, 1x1x1x1, your turn’s up” he slithered into view, and she could see him clearly grabbing his arm in pain “watch out for Two Time. They're feisty for some reason today”, and all she could do was nod, and when she looked back, the timer walked out.
“D’aw….” Coolkid moped, but he walked up to her and presented her signature crown back “well, you can go now. We probably might be done when you’re back, so if you want, you can see what your item was!”. She bent down, allowing him to take the headband off and replacing it with the crown as he did once before. He took the card of the headband and presented it to her, and she squinted at the graphic, and in a second, she could feel her stomach drop.
.
…The card read “hot dog” in big bold letters, and it had an accompanying picture of a rather delicious looking hot dog with it.
She physically felt the soul being sucked out of her, and she said nothing as she walked away to fetch her swords for her next fight, even though her previous game mates waved at her. It was absolutely bad that she would have made an absolute fool out of herself if she had guessed “burger” and she still didn't even know how Slasher was able to recover from the same blunder they faced before.
It was even worse that the whole game that was supposed to distract her mind from that just made her remember that again.
….but hey. It’s just a game. The match will probably be normal.
It has to be.
When she got to the match, she decided to go in blind. She did not need to know how many people there were nor who they were. She was so angry at her earlier mishaps that she was absolutely positive that her sheer anger would make her server wipe … and hopefully that would help release it too, so everything would go back to how it should be. So she just waved the Specter down while he tried handing her the list, and surprisingly, he let her go, dropping her in the middle of the match as always. The map? Horror hotel. The lights flashing from the stage, burning her back, were just too iconic to be mistaken for anything else
And if it just so happened that he was last man… fuck everything! She’ll fucking figure it out later, not like thats going to happen!
The first thing that 1x1x1x1 did was pull out their eye so she could use unstable vision. She counted the people that were present (there were 6) and she fired a shot at the nearest one that was doing a generator. Whoever that was probably wasn't at their best today, because the shot hit nice and cleanly. She traveled to the outside, where she found a very hurt Noob and a not as equally hurt Chance. Noob, being caught off guard, and aslo… looking kind of drunk, was trying to register what was happening as they took flight, running as fast as their two feet could carry them, which chance soon following after them. 1x1x1x1 following them straight ahead, trying to avoid the hands on the floor which she knew usually slowed her down. She almost catched up to the duo again, till she felt someone charge from the kitchen and hit her against the way, from where she realized it was Guest. She hit him once to shake him off from her, and she continued onwards, ripping her eye out again, determined to not lose sight of the duo.
She found them in the area where she originally spawned, hiding behind one of the random assorted walls that were there for whatever reason. Using her own strength to her advantage, and with good timing, she hit them both with an entanglement, just narrowly missing a shot that Chance had seemingly blindly shot (such a miss… it was too close to comfort). Then, sensing she hopefully had enough time (both of them were… rather slow at closing the popups.) she shot another mass infection, and right then and there, there was now a very dead noob and a very badly injured Chance. He stumbled and ran his way out of the wall he was hiding in, and she was hot on his tail. The time was about… 2:20. Adequate enough
They made it to the dining room in their little chase, where the double trouble duo of Guest and Elliot were waiting for the sorry person (so many killers had complained that the synergy these two seemingly had always was the reason why they ended up losing the match). Guest tried charging at her again, which she dodged, but she managed to see Elliot throw one of those rather strange pizza slices at his almost dead companion, who quickly gobbled it down and he rapidly began regenerating health. 1x1x1x1 ran after this new duo, but Guest began running just behind her. She hit him again to try to shake him off yet again, and she continued her focus on those two again, ripping her eye out yet again (it was really starting to hurt now, but she was capable of ignoring the pain) following them back into the outside area again. She found Wanwood working on a generator outside, and she hit her once before focusing her sights on those two buffoons again, keeping track of them by following the sound of chance just constantly flipping his coin. They turned and made their way into the blue bedroom, seemingly to recover stamina at least a little bit.
She hit an entanglement through the hallway wall, and while it completely missed the delivery boy, the already injured gambler wasn't as lucky, and he…. Seemingly died in one shot. Seems that whatever weakness has succumbed to him at that moment was… really really high. The timer was thankfully brought back to two again. If she kept going at this rate, it would be over for everyone else. The adrenaline was already consuming her, and she succumbed slowly to the nice and warm feeling of the hunt
Elliot quickly rushed out of the room after he registered the fact that his partner was dead, and he continued onwards, running across the hallway and seemingly heading back to 1x1x1x1’s starting point. In the middle of that journey, Guest catched up with Elliot and they made their way towards the ball pit. 1x1x1x1 walked up slowly to it, making sure to use Unstable Eye again in case they tried doing any funny nonsense, and she found the two men in a corner of the pit, with Guest standing in front and Elliot behind him.
This was what 1x1x1x1 liked to call the waiting game. Who would strike first? She knew that guest knew that she had full intentions of attacking, but she knew that he had full intentions of blocking as well, and then it probably ended up with her getting punched right in the face. So that was why the waiting game was so important. Who would strike first? Would he be successful, or would she be able to fake him out?
5 uncomfortably long seconds passed, and as soon as she narrowed her eyes and slightly lifted her sword, Guest was quick in action and his arms imminently shot right up.
…only to be met with the charge-up of Mass Infection rather than a standard blow.
Since they had backed themselves up in a corner and the man was affected with slowness, there wasn't anything Guest or Elliot could probably do to get unscathed. They both got hit, and took significantly more damage than usually because of their close proximity. Although neither of them were dead, they were both pretty close to being. They ran from the ballpit, clutching their injuries, and they escaped their separate ways. 1x1x1x1 went after Elliot, who even though still put up a good chase after taking that heavy blow, would eventually succumb to 1x1x1x1’s sword. By then, there was about 1 minute left on the clock. If she quickly found Guest and made due of him, she could probably still win it.
She pulled out her eye for hopefully the last time this round, and she headed straight towards the only injured figure in the map. She found Guest standing at the beginning of that same hallway with all the hands in front of it, and she charged towards to go get him. And man, he was incredibly quick on his feet, but 1x1x1x1 managed to get a hit on him, and he was at a point where basically any damage, no matter how miniscule, could basically guarantee him being dead and the timer refunding again. He charged towards the party room yet again, a rather desperate move knowing that he was just going to significantly slow down afterwards, but when the timer was nearing its last 20 seconds, any desperate move might as well have been a good move.
She managed to finally catch up to Guest, and after faking him out again, she prepared to deal one last normal hit at him, she lifted her sword and….
.
.
….she hit something else?
She knew full on well what was the difference between a final blow and a normal blow, and that didn't feel like a normal blow. The most she saw was a flash of tan and blue.
..wait.
She looked to the direction that thing was running towards. And then she found, now running constantly towards the wall, that it was one of 007n7’s trademark clones.
…THAT FUCKER HAD BEEN THERE THE WHOLE TIME?!?!?
The timer was at 7 seconds, and seeing the distance that Guest had managed to make while she was in the state of bewilderment, she knew she wasn't going to catch up to him soon, instead, she looked at the direction opposite to where the clone went, where she found 007n7, that sweet sweet sweet oh so sweet, so fucking sweet that it could honestly kill her of anger man, staring at her with as much bewilderment as she had
“I didn't think that could work…” She heard him mumbling
“... YOU -” She began to growl, but the timer hit 0 and she was quickly shot with pain and knocked unconscious like all those other times before. Except that this time, just seeing him made it actually hurt. And it hurt like fucking hell.
Fuck, its not like he did anything bad. At least right now. Just the opposite actually, using a clone to block off the hunters attacks was a wonderful idea that could actually be pretty strong if timed right. But just the simple fact that he was there and she was him made her even more pissed and anxious like holy hell. She told herself every single time that she would just ignore everything and forget about it, but it seemed like everything was just reminding her of him all over again and she got set even further back from where she was set before.
WHY THE FUCK WAS EVERYTHING REMINDING HER OF THAT FUCKER??! WHY WOULDN'T IT STOP?!?
WHY THE FUCK WOULDNT THESE FEELINGS JUST GO THE FUCK AWAY?!!?
1x1x1x1 made it back to the cabin even more pissed than she previously was before. Whatever, maybe she could start another sewing project and get lost in it, at least lost enough till she got called to her next game, which would hopefully not involve… him . She wanted to alter some of her tops anyways, so they would all stop looking the same. That seemed like a good plan
But first, she needed to find the kid. It was the Specter that informed her that he would be the next one to go up after all. So now she had to play messenger, like how Phosphorus had for her. She tried her best to swallow her anger, determining that both ignoring it and letting it out hadn't worked, and she made her way to find the kid.
She looked at the living room. Nothing. She looked at the kitchen. Apart from Guest 666 and Charlatan having some early afternoon tea, it was empty. She looked at the bathroom. And it was both a pleasant and a disgrace to find no one there. If she did then… things would have been awkward.
1x1x1x1 climbed up the stairs to where the endless hallways of both occupied and empty rooms sat, and she walked up to Coolkid’s bedroom door, and began to knock on it. Sadly, there was no reply, which means he wasn't there either.
She was going to start looking for people to ask were Coolkid had ran off to this time, when the said little fucker ran down the opposite side of the endless hallway, with John Doe strong on his tail aswell, hodling a basket of…. Stuff in his non corrupted arm, and a roll of… something in his corrupted one.
“That's just who we were looking for!” The kid exclaimed, pointing at her, and then addressing her “ 1x1x1x1! Look! Look! Look what we have found!”
The duo ran up to her, and John Doe presented her with the roll he had in his corrupted arm. He placed it down, balancing it up, and 1x1x1x1 walked up to it and grabbed the loose end, letting her hands feel the loose end of the material. Slowly caressing it, she realized that the roll was a really big roll of white silk. But not just any silk, it was really fine silk, almost as similar to the big rolls of multicolored silk that they kept in the hall of the gods.
“We were wandering and we found a bunch of gifts for everyone!” Coolkid exclaimed “John Doe pointed out that you were really fond of sewing, so we thought this would be perfect for you!”
1x1x1x1 could feel themselves getting caught off guard. She looked at the role, and then she looked at the pair, and then back at the role, and back at the pair, pointing at herself, seemingly to signalize “..for me?”.
John Doe nodded, and that was enough confirmation for her.
She grabbed the roll and placed it against her bedroom door. “....Thank you” She mumbled, clearly in shock, and John gave her a thumbs up. She was quick to compose herself however, feeling the wave of embarrassment, yet gratefulness, fading away
“You might want to stop hunting for right now kiddo, as it is your turn to. ..play tag” 1x1x1x1 said, and after processing the information, Coolkid nodded. He looked back at John Doe, to which he said “Well continue hunting for more stuff later on, ok? Just bring that to your room so you can begin to sort it” to which the man nodded again and brought the basket and himself to his “man cave” (that's what John Doe liked calling his room for some reason.)
“Do you wanna join me in walking to the door?”Coolkid asked 1x1x1x1
“...it's such a short distance though” she grumbled, but when Coolkid began to pout, she responded with “...fine.”
The kid led the way, while she slowly followed after him. They made it down the stairs of the cabin and into the living room. Coolkid reached the doorway, where he suddenly stopped. That made 1x1x1x1 stop too.
“...Mx.1x1x1x1?” Coolkid asked
“What do you want? Don't you have a match to attend?” She spat
He looked at her thoughtfully for a couple of seconds, and then turned his body to be facing her and he looked straight at her while he asked “...Are you ok? Do you feel well currently?”
1x1x1x1 was caught off guard yet again, but not in the happy dappy sappy way that she was caught before. This was way way worse. Gods, she already felt sick.
“...Why the fuck do you ask?!” she fummed “Why the fuck do you care?!”
Coolkid looked at her again, this time staring at her like how a bug would stare at you if you lifted the rock that it was under, and he bluntly stated:
“...I….kinda heard you crying yourself to sleep last night . ”
.
Fuck
Fuck
Fuck fuck fuck
FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK-
She just stared at him back, glaring at him, eyes wide, extremely distraught. She didn't know what to do, but she could feel some soul crushing pain and sorrow boiling up inside of her, something that at this point could be released inside of her, something that kept bubbling up and becoming closer to being let out the more the kid began to speak in order to explain his thought process
“I was wondering what caused it.. Or like… how I could make you feel better.. Cause .. We're friends… no? And friends always look out for each other! I invited you to play the game cause you looked like you needed some cheering up, and I was also hoping the gift would work too… but it still feels like something is off, and I was wondering if it was something I could help you with or anyone else for that matter cause like.. We need to look out for each other! We have to make sure everyone is fine and happy and that if there's any issues they need to work on that we either aid them with it or we can supply them with the things to aid them in helping them solve it themselves or-”
“..fuck. off .” she interrupted his ramble with a grunt. A warning.
“....huh…?” the kid said hesitantly, dumbfounded
The anger that was boiling up reached its tipping point and it was released.
“DIDN’T YOU HEAR ME THE FIRST FUCKING TIME?!? FUCK. OFF. FUCK OFF YOU LITTLE SHIT! GO. JUST FUCKING GO. MY “PROBLEMS” ARE NOT OF YOUR CONCERN. NOW GO BEFORE I FUCKING MAKE YOU GO!”
She lifted her hand in the air like she was preparing to punch the shit out of the little kid. While she held it up there, however, her brain managed to register the scene, and managed to pay attention to the kid in front of her. The tiny kid. So small, so small, holding his hands in front of his face to protect him from the blow of the punch that he was probably expecting to land any time soon, and from what she could he passed his hands, they were filled with nothing but fear. The same kind of fear that was only present in kids. Present inside of kids that were scared that someone that they cared for was actually trying to hurt them. The same kind of fear… the same kind of fear she once felt.
She put her arm back down, as her anger was slowly consumed with regret, realizing what she could have possibly done.
She saw as Coolkid realized that the destructive impact he thought was going to come and shatter him never came, but nevertheless, he still looked at 1x1x1x1 with nothing but fear in his eyes, and he still scurried off to attend his match, rightfully mortified.
.
Shit.
….what the fuck had she done..?
1x1x1x1 retreated immediately to her room afterwards, after the initial shock wore off. She walked as fast and as discreetly as she could, praying that hopefully no one had heard her scream at him, but knowing full well that her voice was most likely heard. She walked with her hand over her mouth, kind of as a way to stop herself from saying anything else
Oh gods
Oh gods
What the fuck have I done
WHAT THE FUCK HAVE I DONE?
She made up the stairs and back into the hallway, running to her room, only to see the roll of silk leaning against the door. The roll of silk that she had been given just a couple of seconds ago. The one she felt so grateful for at first but she didn't know how to feel about now.
She moved the silk from her door and instead leaned it against Coolkid's own bedroom door. She… frankly didn't deserve such a gift anymore. Such a precious, perfectly thought out deal.
“What's the big deal anyways? ” a tiny little voice sounded in her head, the same voice that earlier in the day brought back the idea of ignoring the turmoil that she went through last night. The side of herself that wanted to keep things snappy. "Don't pretend like you haven't hurt people before. You’ve literally done worse to others, even here. What's so different about this?”
It's different because. Because. It just hurts. It just hurts
“Okay and? That kid has plenty of people that care about him. He’ll probably bounce right back up. So why do you care?”
He… he trusted me
He trusted me.
He trusted me and I still hurt him.
She opened her bedroom door with shaky hands, closing it behind her and then she immediately fell to the ground, back leaning against the door. She didn't even know. Where to begin. Dissecting this, dissecting every single part of everything that just came together ever since yesterday, ever since she began thinking back to her first few days here, thinking about the people here, thinking even about the life that she had before here, the life she swore of thinking about, the life she had no control at all over and which she actually escaped she went across, destroying everything in her path, because she was afraid of having her choice taken away, her freedom taken away. But she had never fully gained either of those things. The scars were still there, and she often contradicted herself, and she then didn't think at all and acted impulsively which ended up leaning towards disastrous, disastrous results.
One of the many reasons as to why she didn't want to get close to 007n7 (which was, to accidentally end up hurting him) ended up becoming true, but it wasn't even towards him. It was towards him soon. To be fair, in general she didn't want to get close to anyone because of that. She could somewhat understand why Telamon was so distant, because the second you do form an emotional bond with someone it just hurts and stings like hell if you end up doing something that causes them harm. 1x1x1x1 didn't even know if the kid would be able to trust her anymore after this. She wouldn't blame him if he didn't. She stopped trusting Telamon the second he showed intent to hurt her. But due to that, she would end up losing her one friend. And soon enough, everyone else there too would stop trusting her, if they even trusted her at all, rightfully so. If she threatened a kid for crying out loud, who knows what she would do to them? And even past that she couldn't even look 007n7 in the eye anymore, partly because of the entire… shitshow of before, but mostly because she hurt his son, and how can you look at the father of that kid afterwards and pretend everything was fine ?
And then, with no one by her side, she would truly be alone
Again.
For eternity this time around.
.
.
.
Maybe… Maybe there's still a way to make this right.
She looked at the stars she had painted in the ceiling, and then at the rest of the room. It wasn't really that much different from her childhood room, just smaller and crappier and more barren, but also, more homely. But the point is, it wasn't that much different. She thought back on that room, back at herself. Imagining herself, the old her, the same little kid that ran around and played around and engaged in a wide variety of crafts, spends countless days just binging books and watching TV. the same kid that was ignored to no end and was locked in that same room for almost no reason. The same kid that didn't have the chance or a choice at life like she had right now. That kid? That kid would have loved to hear someone tell it sorry. Tell it sorry for everything that it had coming towards it. There was no one that could tell it sorry and give it compensation. That was all in the past now. But…
What happened, right now, that's still in the present.
She could be the better person
No.
She would be the better person.
1x1x1x1 was… probably ready to face her feelings. Like she predicted, nothing good came out of it, but she was still surprised at the strength everything had built up.
And more importantly, before she dealt with that, she would tell the one person that cared enough to check up on her what was going on to the best of her ability. Not everything but… just enough to ease the pain. And she was going to tell him sorry for what she almost did to him, because that's what everyone deserves to hear at least in one point of their lives… and if he didn't want to accept the apology, she would understand.
She looked at the collection of scrap fabric she always forgot to clean up. And an idea struck again
I should… probably also make an apology gift.
For the rest of the day, even though her hands were still incredibly shaky, she spent it meticulously sewing, making sure that everything stitch was perfect, every detail was well planned out, every button was in place, no matter how many times she ended up poking herself with the needle, and ended up almost staining the project with her own blood. Surprisingly, apart from her initial match, she only had one more, the very last one of the day, and by the time that Flowers went up to her bedroom door to inform her that it was time for her to go, she had already finished with the gift.
The match itself was nothing to write home about. It was just the Specter leaving Elliot and Guest alone to fend for themselves in Pirate Bay. Needless to say, even though they both tried to put up a great fight, to no one's surprise, they eventually died.
Now, it was time for the actually challenging part of the day.
And frankly, she was ready. At least as ready as she could be.
1x1x1x1 opened the door to the cabin after her match, and upon glance, there was no one in the living room, but she could see the kitchen light from there. She pulled the gift from her pants pocket, inspecting it closely before putting it away again and making her way to the kitchen, just to see if Coolkid was there before she headed to search any of the rooms (Usually, Coolkid was in the kitchen later in the evening cause he usually played boardgames with his cabin mates before he went and turned in for the night. There were some nights he didn't do this, however). When she approached the kitchen and looked through the door, she found 3 people in the dining room, sitting at the table, occupying all but one chair, seemingly having a chat about ... narwhals. The 3 people in question were Coolkid, as expected, and next to him, were Noli…and Azure. 1x1x1x1 couldn't help but notice how eerily similar this setup was made. Just like the first night she had spent it in this… blursed place.
It seemed like the second one of them noticed she was there, the room went completely quiet and they all turned to stare at her, kind of like you stare at someone when they come in while in the middle of you talking shit about them. She brazed for the worst, preparing to receive whatever consequence was coming at her…. Only to be surprised with Coolkid calling out to her “H-hey Mx.1! We were just waiting for you! You can take a seat if you want!” and he pointed at the empty chair that was sandwiched between him and Azure. 1x1x1x1 nodded, and she quickly skittered her way to her seat, sitting down rather nervously…. And the room became silent again, till Coolkid spoke up again, still looking, rather nervous, but there was also seemingly another more unreadable emotion inside of him. Well, it was now or never.
“I just wanted to say that mayhaps I shouldn't have been so pushy and I-” instead of letting him finish whatever speech to apologize he had, she lifted her hand ever so slightly, signaling that she wanted to speak now. He took the hint and quieted down, as she tried to figure out how she was going to word everything.
“...You… you don't have to apologize. I….I’m the one that needs to apologize” she choked out “...I’m sorry for hurting you…. If you can’t forgive me, then I understand.” She pulled out the gift from her pocket and placed it on the table. It was a small doll with 3 button eyes and was made with a random assortment of diversely patterned fabrics. “...Apology gift. If you don't want to accept it... You don't have to.. If you want to throw it away…it's ok…. You don't have to forgive me if you don't want to.”
The room went silent again apart from a really small remark of someone saying “well I didn't expect for that to happen”. Coolkid looked at the plush, then back 1x1x1x1, then back at the plush, then back at 1x1x1x1 again. She could feel that Noli and Azure were also staring at her. She stared directly at the ground. She couldn't bear to look anywhere else.
After a couple of seconds, she saw a red, fuzzy hand come into her frame of vision, and the hand lifted her head up so now she was looking directly at the owner of said hand with her mopey eyes. Coolkid was… smiling now, and she could kind of see the fear fade away from him….almost all of it….but that was still significantly better than before.
“...It’s ok Mx. 1x! You’re forgiven! I wasn't expecting this at all, but thank you! This is… really sweet of you!! Even when we mess up, as long as we acknowledge what we did was wrong, we always deserve to receive forgiveness! You’re my friend after all!” and she nodded to what he was saying. “I didn't mean to come off as so pushy earlier, and I should have given you more space, but like, if you want to talk about what's been bothering you right now, then you can!”
1x1x1x1 was about to open her mouth, but then she acknowledged the fact that there were still another 2 people that were… kind of not… part of this situation? Kinda.. ummm … ugh.
“Uhh…” she began, but before she could either accept or decline the offer (not like she was sure which option would be the right one to do), Azure raised their hand to speak, seemingly to introduce some kind of new idea.
“Here, how about we do this so it's not just embarrassing for you, but it's embarrassing for all of us?” He started, and the energy of the room shifted to being that of much more awkwardness “It's a classic way to admit something without the fear of no judgment. A.K.A, we listen, and we don't judge. Okay so how it- NOLI SIT YOUR ASS BACK DOWN YOU'RE STILL PART OF THIS CONVERSATION” the sudden interruption caused everyone to turn to Noli, who was halfway through sitting up, and who quickly sat back down again in fear. Azure scoffed, but continued explaining “Okay. Basically, let’s just take a turn each telling a minor secret that we haven't told anyone here just to ease ourselves into this, and then we tell some kind of major secret and then maybe then it would be a safe space enough for 1x1x1x1 to tell us how they're feeling.” The group looked at each other with a sense of uncertainty, but they nodded, waiting for… something to happen. Azure began, standing up from their chair, and saying somewhat securely “Ok. I'll go first. When I first started baking and I was still learning, one time I accidentally set fire to the oven and I almost burned my house down. I was like 7 and I told my parents that a cat did it and to this day I still don't know if they actually believed me” Then they sat back down, nodding at the fact that no one was really saying anything “Yes, just like that. See? Now, who wants to go next?”
They exchanged glances with each other. The killers were secretive about their past by nature. It didn't really help that in this specific group, there were like 2 people that didn't like telling anything about themselves at all (A.K.A 1x1x1x1 and Noli. Azure was usually private too, but 1x1x1x1 wasn't sure what had gotten to him) So naturally, over the 3 that were left remaining. Coolkid was the first one that spoke up, standing up from his seat as Azure did
“Um…. one time I stole candy from a kid cause he annoyed me!” He blurted out “and I don't regret it!”. The others nodded in acknowledgement, but didn't say anything. Stealing candy was… miles better than almost burning your house down. At this point, it was when 1x1x1x1 stared at each other in awkwardness, knowing now that they had to share something because now they were in it too deep but neither of them wanted to be the first one to share their sentiments first. After about 4 seconds of just sending empty glances at each other, Noli caved in, and he was the first one to speak up, standing up/
“B@ck wh3n I us3d to sH0wer-”
“Excuse me… “back when”?” Azure interrupted.
“ ShUT UP AZuR3 WH@T H@PPENED T0 “we l!sten and w3 d0nt judg3!”?!?” Noli snapped back “...Anyw@ys, b@ck wh3n I usEd t0 showe3r I L!ked S!nging in Th3 shoW3r. ParTicul@rly Disn3y s0ngs.” He sat back down ever so gracefully, and his confession by far was the most damaging yet least damaging confession. There's really nothing wrong with singing in the shower. Not showering, however….bleh.
Noli sat back down as nobody else made any remarks, and soon enough, all eyes were on 1x1x1x1. She sat silent for a couple of seconds, looking around the room, then she eventually shrunk down into herself and spoke, and unlike the others, she remained seated. In her effort to not tell something too mundane but also something that wasn't too personal, she remembered something that was, frankly, very gross, but was around the same level of embarrassment as burning food, stealing candy, and not showering.
“...I…used to eat bugs off the floor.” she blurted out. Nobody seemed to be bothered by it, really. Everyone just nodded in acknowledgement, with Azure saying “me too. When I was like 3, I mean”. She slightly relaxed, and it was back to Azure yet again. For the supposed second round.
“Just to make this clear, anything we say after this point stays between us and it is no one else's business, ok? Unless you personally tell it to someone else. Don't go sharing other people’s secrets or troubles with people that aren't involved” Azure stated, and everyone nodded. Now 1x1x1x1 didn't have to worry about what she was going to say, because clearly, they just wanted her to be honest about what was bothering her. She just needed to figure out how to word… everything in her mind… in a comprehensive manner. But aslo… she needed to make sure that she didn't solely focus on that, because she didn't know exactly how personal these next more serious confessions would be, and like, if they were really really serious, which they would probably turn out being, she needed to make sure her full attention was on them. After everything…she can't be rude, no?
After a long silence of everyone seemingly either figuring out what they were going to say or waiting in anticipation for Azure to speak up again, the guy finally stood up from their chair and they took a deep breath before speaking
“Let's see…. I know I said before that I lived in a closed off community for all my life, and while that is technically true, it was more than a closed off community. I'm pretty sure that I'm actually in a cult.” A pause “Not.. going to say much else right now, but I will say the only reason I thought about doing this was because sometimes the priests would do this same thing with a group of kids, just to see if they could manipulate them into admitting something they did wrong. While it did kind of work in strengthening trust, unlike here, even though they claimed they did not judge, they absolutely did.” They sat back down again, and suddenly, it did feel more like a safe space? There seemed to be at least some level of leeway of stuff you could still keep to yourself. 1x1x1x1 liked that. Thinking about it now… now that she knew Azure grew up in a cult, a lot of things made more sense. They did act rather oddly, not usually relating to other normal life experiences other people had here, and doing some things and following some patterns that were straight up bizarre. Obviously 1x1x1x1 wasn't one to relate either, as she didn't have a normal upbringing either, but at least she had an idea of how it looked, unlike them.
Everyone again nodded in acknowledgement, being respectful and not pressing further. 1x1x1x1 however, catched a glimpse of shame flashing through Noli’s eyes, but nevertheless, the group kept quiet as Azure sat down and Coolkid got up again, seemingly fidgeting with his hands.
“I…. um….” he mumbled, looking around nervously. “I… I used to get bullied a lot… usually by older kids… I think…. I don't think I used to look like this…. But I do remember I still looked…different from other kids. So maybe that's why”
1x1x1x1 thought about how the kid remarked on the very first day that they met that 007n7 was “ always willing to ward off the bullies”, and frankly, that made sense and correlated to his confession. 1x1x1x1 thought that that would be the end of it, however, it seemed as Coolkid was still not finished with being vulnerable, as he continued, trying his best not to cry.
“....that's probably… also why no one liked to be friends with me….But…. but I… lied.. And I told my dad that I did have a friend, and that he was just unable to come over because “He had really strict parents” simply because… simply because I didn't… I didn't want to give my dad another thing to worry about” he wept, and he quickly sat down. Again, no one really said anything, and the most of anything that happened was just Noli moving his hand to ruffle the kids head, seemingly trying to comfort him. But even though she expected something sad to be said, it still was… really really unfortunate. She really was blind to think the kid had always had it all. But again, no one has a perfect life, especially here. On one hand, she was starting to miss the earlier, sillier confessions. On the other hand, she felt…rather honored? Kind of? Not the right word. The point is, she was surprised that they were willing to trust her with such personal information. That made her feel like she could. Maybe trust them more. Like, she could lower her guard ever so slightly. At the end of the day, she kinda did know that both being in a cult and bullying were not really things to be taken lightly.
After what felt like an actually appropriate amount of silence, Noli stopped ruffling the kids head and he got up from his own chair, seemingly carefully thinking about what he was going to say next, once he figured it out, he forced himself to speak in monotone as seemingly his own way of managing any emotion that might influence him
“Th3.. Th3 vo!dst@r, y3s. B@ck wh3n I wAs y0ung and SelF!sh I st0le th3 voiDstar to m@ke MyselF m0r3 powerFUl. H0wev3r, I-t consum3d me, anD th@t’s h0w I end3d uP th3 waY I aM n0w. I am M0re pow3rful, y3s, buT it c-me at @ pr!ce. It’s R3ally h@rd f-0r m3 to D0 a loT of T@sks that YoU may FinD EasY caUse My B0dy is JusT so s3nsitive to EverY f33ling now. F0r Lik3 exaMple, as I sA!d befor3, sh0wering. It’s…. b33n h@rd. it’S h@rD.” Somewhat short, simple and brief, and he immediately sat back down, unlike the last two times were there was nothing left to be said afterwards, this time around Azure acknowledging what he said by saying “ah, my apologies, I shouldn't have been so mean earlier… guess im no better than my elders”, to which the faux deity responded by smiling, shaking his head, and replied “N0 worrIes. Y0u d!dnt kn0w.”
That… also made sense. Why he glitched so much, why he most always couldn't say any swear words, why he mostly just wore the same old robe or clothes made of similar material, why he couldn’t play certain games (such as twister), or interact with certain stuff without glitching out and being clearly uncomfortable. With the more power one has, the harder time they have controlling it, no? It was kind of sad to think about the fact that he was unable to enjoy simple pleasures of life that he may have been able to enjoy before in the past.
All of these confessions were pretty sad. It might as well have made 1x1x1x1 look like a clown for what she might say next. But. just the sheer fact she was willing to say something was… surprising to her enough. Maybe she could actually trust these people..?
They were looking at her again, and she looked around at them again, still trying to figure out how she was going to phrase everything together. She…. stayed quiet, and suddenly she felt a gentle punch hit her arm, it was from Coolkid, who was now smiling. “Well, what are you waiting for? Ya ready?” he whispered, and at that point she swallowed her fear, sorted her thoughts together to be somewhat comprehensive and spoke., shrinking on her seat again
“....Ive.. been… talking a lot with one survivor. We’re…. Friends” She said, and stopped speaking for a second, apparently for long enough that Azure managed to say “...thats it?”. She shook her head, and once she figured out the next thing to say, she continued.
She could face her feelings. She could face her feelings. She could do it.
“The…. the survivor in question is 007n7. He's….. very ... ..himself… very peculiar.” She mumbled. While she could see Noli have kind of a “welp, this is looking very familiar” face, Azure and Coolkid looked shocked. Rightfully so. But nevertheless, she continued.
She could do it. She could do it.
“....the thing is…. I… I…. I think I…. I think I have fallen in love with him…… but….” she gulped “I am unsure about how to go…. About… any of this….. I don't want to keep this to myself… but I fear that if I say anything about it he might not react well and then… things would never feel the same again.” a pause “I….. I don't know what to say. I… I don't think I've fallen in love. Never”
She looked down at her hands
“Frankly…. I'm scared.”
The room became silent for what would be the last time. And when she looked at their faces, none of them seemed to be… disappointed or anything (She thought that Noli was probably going to be the most disappointed of them all, but his face did not read with anything but neutrality. Azure seemed… somewhat intrigued? And Coolkid was… more excited than anything) All of this was over. Thankfully, no one else would have to share a secret anymore. And thankfully, she had said all that needed to be said. Really.
“Okay so actually I have one more thing to confess to specifically you 1x.” Azure said, sadly breaking the rather peaceful silence “Um this was all Coolkid’s ploy. He kinda did want to make sure that you were still okay even after… what he explained happened but he realized that maybe it was a better idea to like, not confront you directly the way he did. So like. He got me, which he knows you get along with well, and Noli, who was the last person to talk to you yesterday, to agree to help him. However, the entire confession thing was still my idea.”
“HEY!! The confession game is over! You can't stop now! They didn't need to know that!!” Coolkid bickered, and he got a small laugh from all the adults around him. He calmed down however, and with a spark in his voice, he began to poke 1x1x1x1’s arm “Now that we know the problem, I think I can help you with it silly! If there’s anyone here that's THE 007n7 expert, it's probably me!” He assured (This was partly untrue, Noli was also partially a 007n7 expert but he didn't have the balls to tell that to the kid) “ He’s very nice! I know for a doubt he doesn't hate you, and I also have a good idea of what he likes! I’ll make sure everything goes well!”
A feeling of relief fluttered through her body. She obviously didn't deserve such help, especially after everything, but…. “Thanks kid.” She gave him a small smile “... im glad that you’re my friend”.
Coolkid’s eyes lit up, and he wrapped her in a hug. He was really fluffy, so it was a really nice hug.
“Isnst that the second time 1x has smiled?” Azure remarked attentively. And by golly, he was right
“Oh!! I b3tt3r geT th c@mer@ to c@ptur3 th!s tHen!” Noli gibbed, pretending he was taking shots with an imaginary camera
“ Shut the fuck up Noli .” 1x spat, as she hugged the kid back.
“If you two end up together…” Coolkid began “that means that will also make you my parent! My mom! I'll have someone that's both my friend and my mom!... That's obviously only if you want to! Would you like to be my mom?”
She thought about it “...Maybe” She hummed.
For the rest of the night, they decided that maybe it was best to do something fun so they had Noli pick a board game at random. Said game ended up being Monopoly, and after a rather competitive 3 hour match, Azure ended up driving everyone into bankruptcy. 1x1x1x1 couldn't really actually get angry at her loss because.. She was having fun. She was really having fun! She had… never felt this ecstatic about everything.
She. She liked having people she could count on close to her
It was nice
It was really nice.
Mayhaps today wasn't a normal day, but it wasn't a bad day, at least not fully.
There were many ups and downs that happened, but…. She couldn't have asked for a better conclusion.
Maybe
Just maybe now
She was ready.
Notes:
GEEE!! sorry i dipped for a long time, but school is back in session, and that menas my updates will begin to slow significanlty a lot! when you atke a lot of advance courses like i am... you kinda end up selling your soul to the school. Aditioannly, I actually had to um. End up splitting the next chapter into 3 because it was getting far too long for my taste. So I need to reformat it and like atcually finish writing it or whatever. Hopefully that makes the story better paced. Stay tunned! the next few chapters will tie any lose ends i left here, and this aslo means that this arc isnt over just yet!
This marks the begining of 1x being more open towards their peers and now they can actually feel like they can trust them. so yipee yay for that! We're starting to work through your issues! just a couple more issues to go trough, yes, that includes the deepest ones!
The idea from the entire sharing trauma thingy comes from a very real boardgame whcih is called the ungame, whihc is a game where people spin die to move around a looping board and grab cards and talk about themsleves while the rest of the people just listen and say nothing, unless prompted to respond. There isnt really winners or losers in the game, its just an aid to help epeople have converstaions with each other that otherwise might me uncomfortable. the concept is aslo derived from the one time we had to do an assgiment in my college prep class were we had to ilistartes assumptions that people make about you and then show what the "real you" was and i ended up breaking down in my table group because of how seriously I took the assgiment, but it all turned out fine and dandy in the end because I became friends with one of the girls that was in the table group. Which is wild to me, because i have a really hard time making friends. guess being really deep and vurenable is a good way to build trust.
apaprt from that, i dont relaly have much to say. i enjoyed writing this chapter a lot though. even if there are a lot of loose ends to it, i still feel like it feels complete. and complecion makes me happy
Thank you so much for all the support as always, i appreciate every single drop of it! (4k hits and 251 kudos is actually insane!! you lads are fuckin amazing!) I hope you all ahve a wonderful day and I shall cya till next time! :D
Chapter 10: IX: Pre-Romance Prepwork (Part I)
Summary:
the first 3 days leading towards 1x confessing to 007n7. A collection of fluffy scenes as 1x slowly tries branching out and forming connections with their peers
(the last 3 days will be posted later!!)
Notes:
cw: some freaky deaky stuff happens at the begining of the chapter, not excatly smut but basically kind of like a build up to it except that it actually never happnes...if you arent rlly the biggest fan smut-esque stuff, feel free to skip to when it says "splat!" :3
(this chapter and next chapter will have the same song because they were meant to be one LOL)
"A new kind of love
Genetically altered
Enough of love life
And I can't believe it's not love
I can't help myself
And you don't have to say that
It sparks across flesh
You'll feel it kicking in soon"
- Chapter song: Moment- Vierre Cloud
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
Day 1 (days till confession: 6):
They laid on their bed. But it felt so comfortable… So very comfortable.
They knew it was a dream, but they were just really surprised about how real it felt. Lucid dreaming, mayhaps? That's… what they remember it was called. Not fully though, as they didn't seem to be able to control their actions. A semi lucid dream, perhaps.
Their room wasn't really looking much like their room. It was slightly bigger, it was more filled, it was almost even cluttered. There was a desk, a rug, a bean bag chair, a corkboard, their bedroom door, their mirror and their closet looked different.. They could tell the bed they were laying on was wider. It was kind of like a canopy bed. On all these mundane things, they were a wide variety of trinkets and doodads and plushies and collectibles that filled them and made the atmosphere feel complete. It felt like their room, but it also felt like someone else lived there as well.
Not a single thing was a single color. The hues of objects shifted, pops of color could be seen around sometimes. The room itself mostly alternated with pastels, and sunset like hues. A color palette that looked like one that would be used in a vapor wave. The lights in itself shifted at a comfortable rate, and they were bright enough to give their dark skin a color changing hue. It was.. Rather peaceful. If they were being honest.
They sat up from their bed and looked in the mirror from afar. They kind of looked like themselves, but at the same time, they didn't. Same droopy face, same hair color, same skin color, same particular feature of having a see through chest. But there were differences. Their hair, usually unkept and spiky, had now been straightened and made neat and the ends had been curled a lot. Their eyes, usually red like a hot chili pepper, had seemingly been adjusted to be more of a pink instead. They were in a long, sleeveless, elegant nightgown they had frankly never had or ever seen in their life , and they were adorned with golden jewelry, bracelets all over their hands, a multitude of necklace over their neck, a couple of chain belts on their waist, a gold laurel wreath on their head. On their head as well was a golden hot dog, for some reason.
They looked at the room as it exploded with color ever so often, admiring the wide amount of colors that it seemingly displayed. As they studied such a spectacle attentively, they were quick to pick up on the fact that the colors slowly began to shift to be more warm, and when the to their room suddenly opened, the atmosphere changed suddenly and then settled to be now mostly pinks and blues, oddly enough, and a bunch of candles that were scattered through all the furniture lit up, displaying a dim pink glow. They turned to look at the door, and they found a rather familiar figure standing there, except that he looked as odd as they did. Brown hair slightly flattened and more well kept, glasses now being full circles, wearing what seemed to be a really high end black suit with a lot of golden detail on it, except that he didn't have the jacket on him and instead was holding it in his hands. They could see the ruffled button up shirt that was underneath, which also had golden details like the suit. He had a lot of golden chains as well. The horns that were usually very visible on his head were now nothing but barely visible stumps, and his tail was nowhere to be seen, instead now possessing a pair of angel wings and a halo. The man himself seemed kind of blurry, but not really. There was some kind of fire-like aura to him.The burger on his head was… also golden, for some reason.
007n7.
With him in it, suddenly the room felt slightly more complete. Now it seemed to make more sense about how they remarked that it felt like someone else lived there. Mayhaps this wasn't only their room now but… both of theirs? That would make more sense. They didn't like leaving this much of a clutter in a place, anyways
He clung his jacket on the desk chair, and he sat down in the bed alongside them.
“You look tired my dear” He said “You didn't have to wait for me, you know?”
Huh. He referred to them as dear? That was… really nice. So they didn't really mind when they found themselves leaning against him. Frankly obviously, this was kind of weird. Corny even. But it's a dream, and in true dream fashion, you don't really question anything.
“I wanted to wait for you” they found themselves saying “I wanted the last thing for me to see before I fall asleep to be you”
“Aww…. that's so sweet of you!” He looked at them, gently grabbing their face and planting a gentle kiss on their forehead. When he did that, a pop of color spread throughout the room, a trail of a homely pink light going by and disappearing. (Now they really wanted the dream to be real, they wanted to feel and experience what that kiss felt like) “But you really need to take care of yourself, you know? Think about it this way, I can be the first thing you see in the morning when you wake up”
“But I want both….” they said groggily, wrapping their arms around him, nuzzling their head against his neck.
“I know you want both…. But I'm still going to be coming home late these next few days, and I don't want you to lose sleep because of me. We’re getting really close to a breakthrough back at the office, and I promise you once we do, ill stop coming home so late” He replied “Hell, I might take the week off, and we’ll do something fun together”
Again, dream nonsense. The way that it was implied 007n7 got a job and that they weren't trapped in the Spectre's realm was actually bonkers. There was no way now this could be real. But also… this was nice. This was really nice
“Mmhh…. If you say so” they hummed, and he planted another gentle kiss on their forehead again, the same light as before passing through again. They themselves kissed his neck and they both smoothly collapsed onto the bed together, laying down, holding each other in a seemingly warm embrace (it looked warm. They wished they could feel it).
“You’re really pretty, you do know that, right?” he cooed as he passed his fingers through their hair. They buried their head in his chest as they hummed back "You're also really handsome”, voice muffled. They stayed together like that for what felt like eternity, and they took the opportunity to savor every drop of this moment, wanting to remember this forever even though they knew it wasn't real.
He stopped moving his fingers through their hair, and they let themselves be lifted by his arms so now they would be around the same eye level. He moved some hair from the right side of their face out of the way, and he began leaving a trail of kisses behind, the light gently flashing every single time one was given, going from their temple all the way to their collar bone, only momentarily stopping to partially take of their nightgown, leaving them partially nude, and then he continued his trail of kisses, begging from their breasts and only stopping at their waist, were the beginning of their nightgown now sat (the fact they had like, an actual chest, like, an actual female chest was odd enough, but ey. Dream logic).
After a bit, they lifted him back up, so they would be at eye level again, and they slowly began to do the same to him, moving his hair out of his face and slowly pressing kisses on his skin till they got to his neck. The clothes he was wearing would take a lot longer to fully take off due to the sheer amount of buttons, but they could do it.
They got to the first button, slowly fiddling with it and-
SPALT!
1x1x1x1 was rudely awoken by the sheer fact that they fell off their bed.
The room was back to being as barren as they had left it, back to being significantly less colorful, their bed as simple as it always was, and their hair was back to being unkept, their eyes back to being red, and there was no golden jewelry or nightgown or boobs in sight. Oh, and no hotdog on their head, but honestly? They liked it better that way. They looked corny with a hotdog on their head
And… There was also no 007n7.
…FUCKKK!!
They got up from the floor, dusting themselves, and scoffing a bit. Just when it was getting to the good part! Why oh why did they have to fall off their bed!? Were they just moving a lot while they were asleep?!? Was it the evil lurking forces that didn't want them to have an actual nice dream interfering? Who the fuck knows!! But it pissed them off! It pissed them off so much!
All that was left of the beautiful memory that was that dream was a very pissed off 1x that was still rather red in the face thinking about it. They were rather… err….nevermind. Something something they’re “hatred incarnate” and they “shouldn't feel”… that… or… whatever. Either way, they climbed back onto the bed and got all cozy again, hoping that maybe, just maybe, they could doze off on their way to dreamland and continue where they were left off. And if they were somehow unable to return to that dream, well, any sleep was good sleep.
They were just about to doze off again, about to fall asleep peacefully, till they heard their bedroom door slam really loudly, sending a huge soundwave through the roof and making them fall off the bed once again because of the shock of such a loud sound suddenly appearing before them.
“ G000000d MORN!NG SUNsHiN3!!!” Noli, the culprit of this disgusting disruption sang in a honey dipped voice, as he tiptoed right into the room like some kind of fairy godmother “AnOth3r d@y, Ant0th3r matcH! It’s Y0uR tu-rn to R0ck th3 st@ge! Sp3ct3rs Ord3rs!”
1x1x1x1 got up from the ground again , but instead of going back to bed they stomped their way to were Noli was standing, and began shaking him out of anger “ WHERE THE FUCK ARE YOUR MANNERS ?!? I WAS ASLEEP!! How dare you wake me up!!!” they spat at his face, and the faux deity slightly glitched before he pushed 1x away from him “g33! No n33d to GeT s- m@d! I w@s juSt foll0wing Th3 Sp3ct3rs ord3rs! I Am bu- uH- whY !s yoUr f@ce s0 reD?”
1x imminently let go of Noli out of pure embarrassment. “No reason” they jabbered.
“... 0k@y buddY. W3ll. HuRRy u-p aND g3t dressEd!! YoU d0nT wanna LeaV3 the spEcter waIting…!” Noli giggled in the same sing-songy voice, and he was out of the room as fast as he was in it.
..
Well that's fucking great. Fucking splendid.
1x1x1x1 wished they could sleep during a match. But as the literal killer, it would be pretty obvious to know when they were slacking off.
They stomped around their room as they got ready, making a mental note to research if there was a way to force lucid dreams to happen later on.
The match was as unremarkable as usual. 5 survivors, all of them surviving an average amount of time but eventually all dying to the hands of 1x. That was fine by them. They wanted to get everything to get done over quickly anyways so they could go back to their usual antics. After they entered their survivor data on the excel sheet, they were quickly to open a google tab and persevere with the really slow internet as they began to make their journey into researching lucid dreaming. However, when they managed to actually get the first tab to load and saw the website flash on their screen, they felt someone tap their back with a rather sharp pointy finger. 1x1x1x1 turned to look back to see who it was, not really sure what they were expecting but they definitely did not expect to see John Doe standing there.
His smile slightly twitched. John was always known to be smiling no matter what, so maybe such slight movement indicated he came in peace. With that, he pulled out a note from his pocket and he placed it on the computer keyboard with his good hand. 1x1x1x1 picked it up, and read it
“Found a really cool wooden chest while rummaging around the empty rooms that I want in my man cave as an accent accessory. Care to help me move it?” It read. Simple enough request. They could probably get it done rather quickly.
1x1x1x1 hopped off the desk chair and signaled John Doe to get moving. “Lets go big guy” they said. John followed them up the stairs, only taking the lead when they eventually got to the room hallway, as he was the one where he knew the chest was, they made a right and began walking their way down the endless hallway.
1x1x1x1 started counting the amount of closed doors they passed, and they counted about 15 till they eventually got to the door of the room that had said chest, being pretty obvious this one was the one that was it due to the fact it had been left wide open and Johns corruption that he left behind a lot of the stuff that he touched still lingered on it. Not like it was dangerous or anything. Seemingly, it was only dangerous to the survivors. 1x1x1x1 stepped inside, being followed by John, and in the room, they found the place barren, even devoid of wallpaper and a proper floor, except for the wooden chest John was talking about. They traced their hands on it. It looked like a pirate chest. It was really dusty, but that was the only bad thing about it. It felt handmade and the craftsmanship on it was decent if not good. “Antique” would be the best word to describe it. They could see why John Doe would like such a thing. The guy had become notorious for exploring every nook and cranny of the barren dorms and taking anything of interest to him and either keeping it to himself or announcing what he had found and then sharing the goods with his fellow people. This specific chest was too good to share.
1x1x1x1 got back to their duties and began to slowly pull the chest out of the room. It was heavy, yes, it felt like there was something inside, but they knew that they could probably do it on their own. However, John, determined to help still, tried his best to push it with his one good arm and his one not so very good arm, and even though the chest slightly corrupted at his touch and he wasn't really good at it…. It really helped a lot (not like the corruption mattered a lot. It would eventually fade away).Eventually, after an even longer walk back, they made it to John's room, to which the door was already open and there was already a space conveniently cleared out for the chest basically next to the door.
John's room was probably one of the most well decorated that were in this cabin due to the fact he just kept a lot of the stuff he found. Although there wasn't much furniture, he only had a closet and a mattress…and well, now the chest, the fact the walls were properly painted a light yellow, the floor had two really nicely made rugs, there was a hammock above the mattress (1x still wasn't sure which one was the one he used to sleep), and in the walls, there were a lot of shelves of many variety, shape and size, all filled to the brim with a huge amount of trinkets and doodads that John had probably outsourced from where he could. It seemed that he took the phrase “make yourself at home” really seriously. 1x1x1x1 envied it… just a little bit.
“Welp, let's see if there’s anything inside of here” they said, opening the chest, and he leaned over their shoulder as they both took a peek inside.
There seemed to be a large amount of packing peanuts, and a couple of objects discarded across the packing peanuts. The objects included but were not limited to: 2 purple candles, a pair of sandals for feet bigger than either of theirs, a wedding veil, a broken fork, and a book. The book was the most submerged in this sea of packing peanuts, being covered almost but by one tip of it.
1x1x1x1 took it out, dusted it, and studied the cover carefully. It read “American Sign Language Made Easy: For Beginners", but before they could say anything about it. It was taken out of their hands by John Doe, who also wanted to see such a peculiar find. He studied up and down, left and right, and 1x could tell something about it made him really really happy.
“You seem content with finding that” 1x1x1x1 said, and John nodded, as he put the book down on the ground and he went over and fetched the white board that he kept in his room to communicate with others. While he walked, all he did was mutter “It…. h-helps” very wearily. 1x1x1x1 barely heard the man speak. The only time he ever uttered words was when people didn't understand him based on body language alone and he needed to clarify something. But this was not one of those cases. Such a thing must have made him really happy.
He wrote as he walked back to where 1x1x1x1 was, and when he got there, he lifted the white board up for them to see.
“ As much as I love the white board, it does get hard to use sometimes. Asl will help me be able to communicate a bit faster.”
They nodded, and he erased and wrote again “ of course, ill still have to use this old thing for stuff that requires more than one hand, but it will still be a significant improvement”
“I feel like it might be able to help other people here that have a hard time speaking, But for that to happen everyone kind of has to learn it. You could keep the original copy, but we could make copies of it by hand, or some other more efficient way.” 1x1x1x1 replied “but. Im glad it makes you happy”
They waited a couple of seconds as John Doe wrote his reply . It was hard to read, as he seemingly tried to squeeze a lot of words in the tiny space, but it was still somewhat legible.
“ Its kind of hard to live when it's hard to communicate. That's something I hate about this new body. I love it here and all the people I know but I also miss my old life, as much as I can barely remember it. I remember feeling more independent, more clear minded. I knew someone that I loved a lot. We planned to have a future together. Now I barely remember anything about them, and my body doesn't allow me to do much of anything."
“Do you remember anything about them?” They asked
“....hands” was the shaky reply
“The feel of their hands?” They asked to clarify, and he nodded. “Just that?” they asked, and he nodded again.
“...well… hopefully, they haven't forgotten about you. If you can still remember them even though you can barely remember everything about them, that means you were probably really really close to them. It's hard to forget a person like that. Maybe you’ll find them someday” A bit of a lie, obviously. Fat chance they were ever leaving from this place. But John was genuinely a kind person. Someone that was clearly one of the ones struggling the most with his life here. He deserved to have at least a bit of hope.(They also felt a little bit better after they said that, even though they knew it was a lie. Those things would work out somehow. And that everything that they have planned to do would go according to plan).
The man smiled warmly. They knew for sure this one was genuine. He lifted the whiteboard again, showing a new message
“ Thank you. Thank you for being patient with me ” It read.
“...No problem.” They nodded “I just found you…. Pleasant to be around”. That was true. Anyone that was quiet and calm was tolerable to be around in 1x1x1x1’s eyes.
And with that, they worked together to clear the chest off packing peanuts and prepare it to have even more trinkets and doodads be stuffed inside of it.
Day 2 (days till confession: 5):
They had forgotten to continue doing research after spending a lot of yesterday rummaging through some of the vacant rooms with John Doe, so such a quest was now pushed into today. Except that it really wasn't. First of all, Coolkid had asked them for something they now had to attend to, and second of all, another day meant another new set of matches they had to participate in. And that’s what they were doing right now, attending one of the matches.
Except this wasn't really another ordinary match. Well, it was never an ordinary match because for some reason they had it at the fucking crack of dawn, but thats besides the point. This was one of the rare few occasions when they knew they were all alone and they chose to spare… him, obviously, in order to converse with him. This time around, however. It wasn't exactly LMS at that point. They had killed everyone pretty early on, seemingly because it looked like the lot of them had just been woken up to participate in this match, some of them still in their PJs, and instead of killing everyone they let noob go momentarily in order to just., have more time to talk with the man. It's not like Noob was off the hook anyways. As they were speaking, the poor Robloxian was being constantly chased in a circle by one of their minions.
The map was Horror Hotel, and there were inside, sitting on the stage, while noob was currently in the outside area. But unlike the last time they were there, they weren't really taking anything seriously. Who can take something seriously when they're half asleep, anyways?
007n7 yawned. He had been one of the few unfortunate ones that hadn't had time to change out before the match started, the fact that he managed to get his glasses and his burger on him before he got out was kind of a miracle of itself. He was unwillingly pulling up to the round with a shark onesie on. It looked really really comfortable. 1x1x1x1 wanted to touch it, but they didn't know how to go about doing it.
“I don't know why the Specter decided to wake us up so unnecessarily early in the morning today. Does he just like keeping us on our toes?” 007n7 asked, 1x1x1x1 just shrugged, and he continued rambling “really sucked. I was having a dream. Not… a good dream. But just a dream. I don't usually dream, which is weird of its own, but the dream itself was weird. I had lettuce for feet and I was floating on a planet made of cheese that was on a crash course collision towards Earth. But guess what also was in a crash course collision towards earth? One of Taph’s Bombs. So we actually ended up crashing with each other and everything exploded into a pink light and I got sent off the cheese and began floating towards mars, but before I could get to Mars I was woken up” He concluded, and 1x nodded.
“Do you usually dream?” 007n7 asked
“Sometimes” 1x1x1x1 answered, yawning themselves “I… had a nice dream the other day… you were in it.”
The second their own brain processed what they said, they wished they could take it back. There was NO WAY they would ACTUALLY talk about what happened…. Thankfully the way they phrased it…they didn't say too much…maybe they could still save face?
“...Really? What was it about?,,, If-if you don't mind me asking, of course!!” 007n7 inquired rather nervously. Obviously 007n7 already knew that 1x1x1x1 wasn't much of a talk, but, eh, they’ll talk right now. They’ll just…. Be very selectively about what they talk about… lets see… what was appropriate about their dream… lets see…. Ah! The lights!
“....We were in a room….” they muttered longingly, as they looked forwards and stared at the wall on the opposite side of the room, “....and there were many differently colored lights…. The colors of them constantly shifted and everything felt like it was exploding in color….. It was…. Really pretty….. Kind of sad that you cant… see it for yourself”
“That… does sound really pretty! Wait… give me a second… I have an idea” 007n7 said, and when 1x1x1x1 looked back at him, he had opened the C00lgui and was quick at work typing…. Something. “The limited abilities this thing has doesn't really allow me to do anything…. Destructive per se, but there are still some things I can hopefully code… hopefully this doesn't count as destructive… otherwise this thing is going to lag and shut down momentarily and im gonna get shocked…” he continued typing more anxiously as the time went by, and when he finally hit enter, all the lights of the room there were in shut off, leaving them in darkness, only to come back on again, now being way dimmer, but also having the same qualities of rainbow LED lights, showering the room with gentle ever color changing light that toned everything almost exactly the same as the lights in their dreams. Obviously not the same, but, as close as it could come to in real life. And it felt equally as magical, because thwere in fact, actually experiencing this in real life.
“..woah…..” 1x1x1x1 gasped “.....how… did you do this in such a short time…?”
“Ah! Um! I'm just really skilled at changing environments because of um ... .a hobby I used to have, yeah!” (he probably was talking about exploiting. Silly goose. He didn't know still that 1x1x1x1 knew) “It's not that impressive of a skill, really!
“....I think it's really neat. I… wouldn't even know how to begin doing that” They said
‘I-I could teach you someday! I-if you want to learn, of course!” 007n7 said, and 1x1x1x1 nodded.
They sat in silence, studying the ever changing lights, the way this room still fully lit up was still mesmerizing. 1x1x1x1 could hear noob being killed by the minion in the background, and they could feel LMS begin, but they didn't really care. This… was nice. Right now, this was nicer than any victory.
They could feel 007n7 scooching closer to them, only to eventually lean on them. They, were, still, rather.. Not. used to physical contact. But. once the initial discomfort wore off… it felt rather… right? It felt good. And plus, they got to actually feel the texture of the onesie now. It was rather fluffy and warm, like a nice winter blanket that you throw onto yourself when you’re cold. They could feel the so-called butterflies in their stomach suddenly appear. If those butterflies were really real, you could have probably seen them flying all around their translucent abdomen.
They turned to look at 007n7 and study him for a couple of seconds. Same messy hair, same nervous face, same dumb graphic on his clothes. Even the sesame seeds were the same. Their feelings for him were way different now, however. It was the same man, but it was completely different. The scene was really perfect for a confession right now, but they were rather unprepared, and they didn't have enough time. But they promised themselves they would tell him. Not today but they would tell him. Soon. Soon. Soon, god forbid. They just needed more time.
007n7 noticed that 1x1x1x1 was studying him, and he immediately sat up again “My apologies!” he gasped “ I should have asked you first if you were okay with that! Silly me….” He said sheepishly
“...I don't mind. Really.” They stated, looking back at the wall “You can…continue if you want.”
They felt the same soft material touch their arm, and it made the butterflies in their stomach act up again. But despite all this nervousness, they still.. Really appreciated the moment, really. It gave them hope.
The pair stayed in silence like that, studying the lights attentively, till the timer eventually ran out, and 1x1x1x1 found themselves collapsing into unconsciousness again. The last thing they saw was the lights turning off and flickering back to normal, probably either 007n7 quickly resetting the place so it would go back to normal, or the Specter doing that for him.
It was a bit later in the day now, usually the time that 1x1x1x1 would wake up and start to get ready, but they didn't have time to dilly dally in their room doing nothing like they usually did. Instead, they had to attend to the favor that Coolkid had asked of them.
The kid had taken interest in the way that 1x1x1x1 spent the majority of their time sewing, and most of that sewing was spent either making new clothes or altering already pre-existing ones to fit their style. He seemed to especially love the fact that the pants they made were made with a variety of scratch materials sewn together like patches of many different sizes and varieties, ending up with the result of a congruent mess of patchwork that was a DIY warrior’s dream. While the only reason that 1x1x1 began altering and mending their pants like that was due to the fact that in general sewing material was scarce and they wanted to do as much as what they could with what they had (That pile of scraps they intended to throw away a long time ago actually was one of the nicest things they had right now), Coolkid was just simply interested with the aesthetic of it. Guess there's something about patchwork and patterns together that was pleasing to look at. So, at this point, the kid wanted a pair of pants like that of his own, and still feeling really really ashamed about what happened 2 days ago, 1x1x1x1 agreed to do it. They would have done it free of charge, really, but the kid insisted otherwise.
They would have probably done the project in their room. But the kid had insisted that they needed to take their work to his room, so 1x1x1x1 found themselves in the space for… the first time, really. They started at their new surroundings. There was a bed with a wonky frame that looked that it was clearly made by a kid (to basically no one's surprise, Coolkid had probably asked John for the instructions to make a bedframe upon finding wood, but he probably insisted on doing the work himself and ended up with a crooked result), and a closet, a small round wooden kiddie table, so basically, the usual. The walls were painted red except for a spot where three blue handprints had been made, one really big one (probably Guest 666), one eerily smooth one (probably Charlatan’s? She probably forgot to take off her glove before leaving it there), and one that was very Coolkid shaped. There were many shelves willed with doodads, not to the extent of John Doe, obviously, but still notable enough, and 1x1x1x1 could see the gift 007n7 gave Coolkid amongst them, the animation still perpetually playing on loop forever.
‘Thank you so much for agreeing again Mx. 1x! I cant believe I will get to look cool and scary like you!” Coolkid said, closing the door halfway after they both entered the room ‘I already picked out a pair of pants! It's on the bed! I can't wait to see what you do with them!”
1x1x1x1 turned to look at the bed more carefully. Laying on it, apart from a pillow and two plushies (One of them being the one 1x1x1x1 made for him), was a pair of basically brand new overalls that were perfectly Coolkid sized, but frankly they had never ever seen Coolkid wear them. After putting all their supplies on their floor, they grabbed the article of clothing, and began studying it. It was of a nice enough quality. They would probably alter them to be more wide legged though. And they would probably try to cram as many patches as they could. Since the only instruction they were given was to “Make it look as cool as yours!” They were going to have to trust their gut as much as they could and kind of pretend this was a pair of their own, even if they were really really small in comparison to them.
1x1x1x1 put the pair of overalls on the floor and then sat down themselves, back leaning against the bed. As the kid seemingly scrambled around his room looking for something, they got straight to work, beginning to unsew the sides of the thing in order to attach more fabric to it and as such extend the leg with. They liked to work in silence when it came to sewing, but 1x1x1x1 knew that with this kid around, a conversation would be eventually unavailable. So they began mentally counting the time it would take for Coolkid to talk. 1….2….3…
They eventually got to about 27 when the kid spoke up
“...Do….you feel better now?” he asked rather nervously “You know…. From two days ago.” Oh yeah. That. Sure, the issue was technically resolved, but they didn't actually, fully talk it out. Because of all the people that were in that fuckass room
They nodded awkwardly. “... yeah..” they murmured “...I… I'm sorry, again.” A pause. ‘I-I’m… still not used to a lot of things…. People…. Asking how I'm feeling….. That's one of them.”
“Well that's incredibly depressing” the kid said, seemingly finding what he was looking for. It was three clear plastic boxes, one full of rubberbands, one full of colorful beads, and the last one having letter beads and a roll of string. He sat the boxes down on the kiddie table and he seemingly began to look for something else.
“...Well no shit Sherlock, I already know I'm depressing” 1x1x1x1 spat.
“Well… I can't really be talking. No one but my Dad and sometimes other adults asked me how I felt either” he stated “ Even then, some of those adults still felt so fake about it. “Lift your chin up! You’ll be fine!” they would say, but they couldn't understand. They couldn't. They didn't want to understand. Some adults only care about kids when the kids are happy and aren't making a big fuzz out of anything. It's… weird… how genuine the people that live here feel”
“....I find it weird too… but I guess it is because we’re all… broken… in some way” A pause “....like…. We all have issues… and we connect over that”
“Really? Ya think the fact that we have felt hurt or that we are still hurting brings us together?” the kid asked, coming back to the table again, two pencils in hand. He sat down. 1x1x1x1 moved the pair of overalls in order to begin unsewing the other leg.
“....Similarity fosters community, I guess” 1x1x1x1 “and even if it didn’t…. At some point we would have to learn to put up with each other because god knows how long we're going to be stuck here.”
“You… ok with that?”
“This is frankly the best my life has been…so yes.”
“That's even more depressing” the kid pouted “Who hurt you?”
“...Dont… want to get into that right now.” 1x1x1x1 stated bluntly, reminding themselves to calm down. They had to be the better person
“Ya know what, fair enough” Coolkid shrugged. 1x1x1x1 looked up to see what he was doing briefly. He was weaving green black and red rubberbands together using the two pencils in order to make a rubberband bracelet. “Me personally, I am happy that I met the people here, sure. And there's some stuff from back then i dont miss or that I don't remember very well but… I do wish sometimes I had my old life back. I miss my dad. I miss my dad Mx. 1x. I miss him really bad”
1x1x1x1 stayed quiet for a second, putting their work down as they began to think about what they said. To be fair, they kinda did miss 007n7 right now too, but it was more of a longing kind of way than… whatever secret emotion Coolkid felt that could only be held by a child longing for their parental light, a parental light that actually responded back to the child.
“He… misses you too. He asks me about you sometimes.” They finally managed, going back to their work and beginning to add the extra fabric to one of the pant legs. “You… should try talking to him, if you can”
“I….” the kid pursed his lips “I…. I can't remember if I do.. Or don't. I can barely remember anything from the matches….”
Ah, right. Of course. The Specters work.
“It botters me that my brain feels scattered, that there's sometimes just patches of memory that fly away and I never will ever know what they were about. I want to talk and be with my dad so badly, but how can you talk to someone and try to have the same bond you had before when you can't even remember what you told them or what they told you and how do you know if you aren't repeating yourself or if they even like you still or whatever? Hell, I'm not even sure if I'm going to remember this conversation in a week or two!” The kid whined. “I want my old life back. I miss my old life.”
After a bit of silence, 1x1x1x1 got up from where they were and they sat down next to the kid, gently pulling him close in order to comfort him. “....I don't really know what to tell you kid. I dont… know how to deal with issues that I have never experienced, which is really mostly everything. Hell, I don't even know how to deal with issues I have experienced. I could be one of those aforementioned fuckass adults that tell you to not make a big deal out of it, but we both know that's just a load of bullshit. I know it's probably going to take some adapting in order to fully accept that the life you had before is in the past and the you that you are now is different from the you you were back then, but maybe someday you will be able to do it. You can do it, I believe in you”
“...well… I mean… when you put it that way..” the kid said thoughtfully “you are right! That's something I have to work on! Thanks for the advice, Mx. 1x, but.. How do I begin?”
A pause. Huh…. How do you begin with doing that?
“...No fuckin’ Idea kid” They found themselves cackling honestly, after finding no concrete answer in the back of their head. “ In fact, I haven't fully accepted that either… but about me, obviously.”
After an initial silence of dumbfoundedness from that statement left the air, the room quickly filled with laughter from both parties. “Why give me advice you don't even follow anyways?!” Coolkid said in between giggles “You’re a horrible role model!”
“Well, this ain't about me, this is about you!” they chuckled , poking the kid jokingly “Plus, we gotta make sure you build good habits earlier on than me!”, and the duo began giggling . Welp, so much for the sob fest. It's… rather funny how the atmosphere can change around almost instantly depending on.
Eventually, the giggles calmed down and it was back to having a conversation again. Instead of moving back to where they sat, however, 1x1x1x1 just moved their stuff towards them so they could still continue to work and sit near Coolkid
“Anywyas… talking about my dad….”the kid said, going back to business of looming the rubberbands together ‘how are things going with him right now, huh? Ya getting close to proposing or what?”
They could feel their cheeks becoming flushed “Not… yet… Not ready” they began looking down at their work again out of flustereness “But…. he changed the lights in the horror hotel this morning in order to change colors because I mentioned that happened in a dream of mine. The poor guy got pulled into the match in a shark onesie…but when he leaned on me it was really fuzzy so now I think I need a shark onesie.”
“You do have a chance then!”Coolkid said “He wouldn't do such a thing just for anyone! This is a good sign! Mx 1x! Dont ya know! You don't do that kind of stuff just for anyone!” He claps his hands together “Maybe things will work out!”
“Maybe….” they acknowledged, and they finished sewing the extra fabric on the pants legs that would make them now extra wide
They continued working in a comfortable silence on their own respective projects till Coolkid got called to participate in a match a bit later on, leaving 1x1x1x1 alone on the floor. No matter, they continued working onwards with pure determination while they waited for the kid to come back. Every stitch, every patch they added, they knew exactly where to place it and how to work with it due to some kind of hope that had festered inside of. The hope that came from what the kid told him. If he said they had a chance, then maybe they really did.
Maybe 1x1x1x1 should start spending more time with the others here aswell… first John Doe… Then Coolkid’s... They found this… really really nice. They were slowly gaining confidence too. And in a place like this, to someone like them, confidence is everything.
Day 3 (days till confession: 4):
In their quest to start interacting more with the people around them, 1x1x1x1 had decided to take Azure on an offer he had presented to them long ago. That was, to go gardening with them, or to at least step outside and go look at the flowers. When they usually hung out with Azure, it was through baking. But gardening? That was a whole new field they had never ever tackled.
Also, yes, 1x1x1x1 had finally gotten around to researching lucid dreaming. Nothing… too crazy, just how to initiate it if they really needed too. They also ended up finishing the pair of overalls for Coolkid, the kid going absolutely insane when he first saw them. In return they got about 5 bracelets that were made with the materials that Coolkid had pulled out when they were there. 2 of them were rubberband based, featuring two very different kinds of weaving, 2 of them were a simple line of multi-colored beads that also had words on them, one of them reading “Biohazad” and the other one reading "radioactive". The last bracelet seemed to be a bigger endeavor, as while it was again made with beads, it had multiple layers and multiple intricate details to it and kind of looked like a spiked cuff if it was pixelated into circles. The kid called them Kandi, and noted it was one of the last things he got into before he got sent here. 1x1x1x1 was rather impressed by them, and they made a mental note to always wear them like how Coolkidd usually wore the bandana they made for him, unless they were in a match or something (they had pockets to store the trinkets in anyways.)
But that's besides the point anyways. They were getting rather off topic
Azure liked to do their gardening later in the day, not exactly “it's after the very last match of the day” late, but late enough that it was nearing the last match. This was probably due to the fact that Azure usually had his matches earlier on in the day, and as such had ample free time later on, which really seemed to benefit his early bird lifestyle.
The garden itself was outside, behind the main cabin, in a somewhat thin but incredibly long wooden flowerport filled with a variety of many flowers that ran from one side of the cabin to the other. Past that, there seemed to be a fence with a broken gate that showed what extended beyond, and as far as 1x1x1x1 could see past some apple orchards that were nearby, it was just more tree and more tree on and on and on. Forest so big that you can't see the end of it, forest so big that it was very likely you would end up completely lost in it. The forest was so big and probably so disorienting it discouraged anyone from trying to escape by going through it. That was probably the Spectre's intention. Keep them trapped, disoriented, and isolated.
“I seem you have taken interest to the apple orchards” Azure said, noting at how intensely 1x1x1x1 was staring at the forest “ I have not gone venturing there myself, as im still quite afraid about what will happen when I step past that gate, but maybe some day I will. The trees right now seem fine anyways. They are very self-sustainable.” He gestured back at the long flowerpot, and 1x1x1x1 looked back at it “For right now, I'm just glad I can take care of these beauties. These aren't as extensive or impressive as the garden I had back at home, my one pride and beauty, but the fact that they grow here and are relatively healthy when we don't get visible sunlight here really fascinates me..”
Upon closer inspection, it seemed that the pot was made of 7 somewhat distinct areas, where 7 different types of flowers were growing in each. The areas somewhat spilled into each other however, creating kind of like a fade of colors between the past plants and the plants next to them. All the plants present here were flowers, and they seemed to be of a somewhat random selection.
“...You… picked these intentionally?” 1x1x1x1 asked, pointing at the flower pot.
“Apart from a bag of seeds that I had just happened to have on me, I just found these scattered through the house. It's kind of a shame, if it were up to me, I would have a different set up, different flowers, but you do what you can with what you have, ya know? Besides, I'm not really fully pissed by it. Honestly, every single flower is beautiful in its own way. The problem now is, that these have grown so wild that if I ever find another bag of seeds again, I'm going to have to look for a new flowerpot” Azure put on some gardening gloves over his usual gloves. “...so… care to fill up the watering can for me? Its right on the left side of the house”
1x1x1x1 turned to look at the left side of the house. There, in the ground, was a hose that was connected to a hose bib that was connected to the house itself, as well as what looked like a milk jug with holes poked near the top of it. That was probably the watering can in question. As Azure said “You do what you can with what you have”.
1x1x1x1 filled the jug about two thirds of the day and then walked back, to where Azure seemingly was studying one of the groupings of flowers, seemingly trying to make sure they were ok.
“Ah! Thank you!” he exclaimed. “Some of these fellas were looking quite thirsty right now!” He grabbed the water jug and began watering the plants he was just studying, while 1x1x1x1 now found themselves captivated by a specific kind of flower that was in the very center of the flower pot.They walked closer to it for further inspection, and they found it to be purple flowers, each having 5 distinct petals that kind of looked to be fused together, and the middle of them were a very warm yellow. The purple they were was rather beautiful. They ran their fingers gently through the group, tempted to just pick one off so they could look at it even more closely. Before they could do anything however, Azure spoke up again
“ That's a Purple Nightshade. I wouldn't pick those off If I were you, otherwise you will face my wrath.” he stated, before giggling “but seriously, don't pick them. First of all, that's my favorite flower and it was the one whose seed bag I had on me.I really do care deeply for them, they’ve always been my favorite flower. Also, don't think about eating the berries on them either. They're poisonous.”
“...Noted.” 1x1x1x1 said, letting go gently of the plant. They went to check out what Azure was currently watering. He was at the very right side of the house and upon closer inspection, the plant that was being taken care of in question were white roses. The rose, a simple, iconic flower that was known by everyone and was even synonymous with romance. However, it was the only plant out of all of these that 1x1x1x1 could recognize.
“Do you mind telling me what exactly are all the plants you have here?” they inquired “Im intrigued”
Azure stopped watering the roses and nodded “Why of course! Here, let me show you them all”. He gestured at the roses “those are obviously roses, but im pretty sure you already knew that” He pointed at the flowers that were right next to them, that were pink and incredibly fluffy looking, they kind of looked like a loofa “These are carnations, they are known to have a very nice scent”. 1x1x1x1 couldn't really smell them, but that's because they couldn't smell anything very well, nevertheless, Azure began moving onwards parallel to the flower pot and 1x1x1x1 continued
“These are Honeysuckle” Azure stated, pointing at a kind of wispy flower with a yellow center and thin rounded petals that were mostly white but faded to pink “their nectar is known to be edible”. He went to the center, coming back to the nightshades of previously before “As stated before, these are Purple Nightshades. I have been growing these since as far as I can remember, they were kind of like one of the first flowers I ever grew. They often tend to symbolize enchantment and mystery, amongst other things”. The more that 1x1x1x1 stared at Azure, the more that he began to look like a Nightshade
He pointed at the plant to the left of the nightshades, which were yellow, white and droopy, having petals that kind of flared out like the end of a tuba “Those are lilies. Specifically Canada Lilies. They can grow to be 8 feet tall”. He kept walking, making it to the very far left of the flowerpot where the last 2 plants resided. The first one had a rather particular shape to their petals, having about 5 petals that flared out and about 2 or 3 that bent into the plant. The plant was mostly pink, but the edges faded to white, and it kind of had a peculiar pattern imprinted on it “These are orchids. The family itself has over 28,000 accepted species of it, which is like, the second most out of any flower family, only second to the daisies.” And then he pointed at the last plant, the one on the very far left “And these, are forget-me -nots”
1x1x1x1 kneeled to see the plant. They were pink, really tiny, and really close to each other. They had 5 tiny petals and a yellow center. They ran their hands through them, and they looked so tiny and delicate in comparison to their rough skin. “...Im surprised by their name” 1x1x1x1 said “ Its…. an odd name for a plant”
“It is, but it had to do with their symbolism. Plus, some of us people have odd names so we must judge them too hardly. These are usually more commonly blue, the bag of seeds that I found just for some reason happened to be for pink forget me nots” Azure replied
“Whats… whats their symbolism?”
“Forget-me-nots in general are tied together deeply with remembrance, a way to show someone that you will not forget about them. Pink forget-me-nots specifically are more closely tied to love, specifically romantic love, because of their color” Azure turned to step back, as if he was admiring the entire garden, his pride and joy “if I were to be honest right now though, I'm not the biggest fan when the symbolism of a plant is romance. I wasn't a fan back then, and now especially im even less of a fan”
“....what about the other plants? What about their symbolism?”
“All of them but the nightshade to some degree have to do with love, romance. That's why I said if it was up to me, I would keep different flowers around” Azure sighed “thinking back on the cult just makes me think back on romance to some degree. It makes me think about someone that I used to know.”
There was a pause, before 1x1x1x1 wondered “Is it…. The same person that taught you about… the concept of gender neutrality?”
“...when did I mention that?” Azure questioned back
“When… when we first got here…. When I first met you. Although I'm just assuming they’re the same person. They could be two different people.”
“...Nah, you’re right, it is the same person. We used to be stupid teenangers and we used to fuck around and do jackshit and be in love, and that was fun but…. But things are different now. Everything is different now. They’re different now. I'm different now. I can see things more clearly, but they're far too gone.” A pause “It's hard to move on. But I will eventually grow to accept things will never be the same. Even the concept of romance still stings right now, but I hope someday it won't hurt as much anymore”
“...I see” 1x1x1x1 replied “it's kinda funny, actually. I told the kid something similar yesterday. I said something like "it's gonna take some time in order to fully accept that the life you had is in the past and the you that you are now is different from the you you were back then” or something like that. I get a feeling that a lot of people here are stuck in the past because they either can't accept the idea that they now reside here or this entire setup is just so unfamiliar and foreign to them or their life was genuinely just better before. Or some secret fourth option. I don't know. You seem to be getting closer to acceptance than others though”
“Probaly because I like the freedom of doing whatever I want however I want with no one to judge me or force me to do something I don't want to do. Don't get me wrong. I miss a lot, but there is more that I don't miss at all and that I'm glad It's gone. It's a weird spot to be in”
“...I also like freedom.” they acknowledged
‘Were you also raised in isolation?”
“You could say….” they trailed off
“I assume you are also one of the people that just cant accept their life is here now?”
“Oh… oh no, I already accepted that.” A pause ‘....I just can't accept that ….well… this is the only way I find stability.”
“I can get behind that. I feel the same way” Azure said. “Welp, enough pity partying. I didn't take you for the kind to talk about feelings, but whatever. Do you like any of these flowers?”
“....Im just trying to step out of my comfort zone and build more confidence but….”1x1x1x1 looked back at the forget me nots, and they held the tiny flowers through their hands “...I like these”
“I'll keep that for future reference” Azure whistled "Didn't take you for the type to like pink. Mayhaps Coolkid was right to call you a softie?”
They got mildly irritated at that remark “Fuck Off Azure” they spat.
“Geez man, whatever” Azure rebutted “its just a joke”
They glared at each other, but they eventually mellowed out
“....Thanks for the offer by the way… the flowers… they're really pretty” 1x1x1x1 mumbled
“You’re welcome. Glad you got the courage to take it. You’re invited back here any time” Azure grinned, patting 1x1x1x1 with one of his tentacles.
They could really really get used to this life now.
They really could.
They could feel their confidence build up again
Notes:
I am so so sorry for the wait! my mental health sunk like the titanic and for like 2 days i couldnt go a moment without spiraling... and aslo i had writers block so i had to pace myself better bleehhh.. either ways i am back and i am ready to rock and rumble!! mental heath still isnt optimal optimal but its getting there!! its getting better! and no more writers block! yipee! hooray!
dropping this here from my own personal notes rn its revelant for this and next chapter lewl:
"-Guest 666 and Taph are fully mute
-John doe has a really hard time speaking because of the corruption and would rather not speak at all
-Noli aslo has a hard time speaking because of the corruption but he just pushes through
- Slasher is selectively mute. Being in a small space with a bunch of people is usually triggering to them (bc of the experimentation) so he goes nonverbal around the cabin, but if there were to be in the open with 1 or two companions, he would probably have the capability of talking."
just some headcannons of mine ^^!!! anyways back to yapping about the ficheres your after care after getting through all that angst heh...!1 the next chapter will follow basically the same format so get ready for even more!! I found my love for writing these scenes tbh. It allows me to explore both how 1x interacts with people aswell as a bit of the past of the other people in the cabin. Im basically just getting my fill of found family here.
and of course, we got some more poisonbuger here heh,,, i hope you liked this one.. hope it made yall feel warm. i especially loved writing the dream scene its so cute. it is sososo fluffy. but it hurt me a bit. its hurting a bit for later. stuff happens later on.... dont worry about that thoigh!! enjoy the fluff right now... eat it up!!
The coolkid scene was also really fun to write. again, if therses something I really love seeing and hearing about is 1x coolkid found family. im pretty satisified by how the scene came out. i was scared I was going to fumble it but I wouldt have it be any other way. aslo yes my coolkid is a kandikid cause i said so!!! I have a strong admirtaion for Kandi kids i just think the stuff they do is genuelly amazing liek #what, the patience yall have I could never.anways, that is it for me right now!! I dont think youll have to wait long for the next chapter, so cya next time!! ^^ hope yall have a wonderful day!
and as always, thanks sosos much for the support!
Chapter 11: X: Pre Romance Prepwork (Part 2)
Summary:
the last 3 days leading towards 1x confessing to 007n7. just the same as before, another collection of fluffy scenes where 1x is trying to socialize and gain confidence to confess. super cute!!
Notes:
"Are you falling in love?
I've a feeling you are
Are you falling in love?
With a feeling
Are you falling in love
Or only feeling you are?
Cause if you're falling in love
Let me feel it"
-Chapter song: Moment- Vierre Cloud
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
Day 4 (days till confession: 3)
1x1x1x1 found themselves woken up hours before the crack of dawn today by the Specter himself for another match. They noticed that such nonsense was beginning to go on more often, seemingly so that the guy could cram as many matches as he could in one day so everyone would have to suffer more. At the end of the day, all the things the specter did was for their own amusement. And most of that amusement came from poking and prodding at the people present there. But what could 1x1x1x1 do about it? The most they could do was just begin to go to sleep earlier on in the day. Or, um, try to take a nap. Even though they had a really hard time taking naps. Whatever.
The match itself was… astronomically disastrous, to say the least. It seemed the specter was also only willing to wake one survivor up for this very first match. Maybe this was more of a way to torture the unfortunate survivor than it was to torture 1x1x1x1. Either ways, 1x1x1x1 found themselves spawning in the work at a pizza place map only to find the survivor, that being Two Time stabbing at the floor, unaware that since they were the only person that was alive, they were already technically in last man standing and they were already on their second life. They had an even more insane look in their eyes than they usually did, and 1x1x1x1 wasn't sure if it was from sleep deprivation or from something else.
The match quickly turned into a battle of who was most awake and who was able to make the least sloppy movements, which was a hard task during the witching hours of the day. Either way, while they both fumbled, 1x1x1x1x was eventually able to win and stab the person with only 10 seconds left on the clock. That. was a close one.
Either way, they were faced with a new challenge. Unable to fall asleep and unable to do much of anything else, they had stepped into the empty cabin and realized that no one was fucking awake yet. While they didn't mind the quietness and the silence, in fact, they much rather it over loud noises, there was something eerie, something almost forbidden about being awake when nobody else really was. As 1x1x1x1 was usually one of the last if not the last person to usually wake up in the house, this perspective they saw was a perspective of the living space that they had never seen before.
1x1x1x1 eventually settled on grabbing a quick snack in the kitchen before eventually clambering back to their room and finding something to keep busy while they either waited for their next match or waited for everyone else -or at least the people they cared about- to wake up. Their mouth was feeling rather dry anyways, so, what's the harm of a little snack?
They stepped inside the kitchen, turning on the light, and staring at the cabinets, to see if there was at least something that hadn't been claimed by someone already. They stared at the random assortment of food selection. There were fruit snacks… that had already been claimed by Charlatan. Coffee candies… that had already been claimed by John Doe. A loaf of bread….that already had Slenderman's name on it. A half eaten gigantic gummy bear that also had a half eaten sticky note with guest 666’s name on it… damm. The further they looked into the cabinet, the more food they found that had already been claimed by some schmo or other. Again, they didn't need to eat but.. Seriously? Like Jeesh! At least leave some food unclaimed!
Eventually, they reached far enough into the cabinet to find a singular over ripe banana. Sticky note-less thankfully but… yeesh, a ripe banana? Well… it's not like they were going to find anything else… and it's not like anyone was going to eat it….
They closed the cabinet and they looked at the banana. Welp. Time to dig in. 1x1x1x1 moved to get out of the kitchen and move into their room while peeling the banana ... .till they saw someone standing in the kitchen doorway, being illuminated by the creamy glow of the kitchen light.
Their outline was faint, but upon closer inspection, they realized it was Slasher… kinda. Something was off… not about him being there of course, they had heard Slasher was an even bigger early bird than Azure, but it was like something was missing that he usually had with him.
1x1x1x1 stood there, holding the half peeled banana, staring at Slasher, as he stared at him back, and they stood for a couple of seconds staring at each other till 1x1x1x1 managed to say “...Morning” Out of respect, and they stepped aside in order to let Slasher in.
The lad stepped in, and once he was fully in the kitchen light, it was when 1x1x1x1 realized what was off about him. Slasher, usually secretive and quiet, had always worn his trademark mask in order to conceal his identity from the rest of them. This time, however, probably anticipating that nobody would be awake at such an ungodly hour, he had neglected to bring his mask with him. He was now covering his face with his bare hands, so they couldn't tell exactly how he looked (not like they wanted to know, out of respect) , but they could see the abundance of dark hair they had, short in length but plentiful in quality. Oh, and it was all bacon. Spoiled bacon, being of a moldy greenish spoiled color, but bacon nonetheless.
1x1x1x1 didn't know if it was appropriate to leave or not, so they just stood there as they watched the bacon reach into the cabinet, looking for his own stuff, only to pull out a black bag that had his name in it. He put his hand into it only to find the bag was seemingly empty. Based on body language alone, he seemed to be rather upset that the bag was devoid of anything that had worth? Either way, he closed the cabinet door, still holding the bag in hand.
He turned so his body was facing 1x1x1x1, head looking at the ground, and he presented them with the bag, holding it open. 1x1x1x1 looked at the bag, then back at the banana, then back at the top of Slasher's head, as they tried to figure out what he was communicating “You…. Want this banana?”
The man shook his head, and he pointed to the doorway, seemingly to what was outside of the doorway. Then, he fished into the bag and pulled out the last item that was in it, which turned out to be a day old apple core that had been enjoyed to its fullest. He threw the apple core behind him, letting it bounce against the wall, and he presented the now actually empty bag to 1x1x1x1 again. Based on all these seemingly random movements it clicked to 1x1x1x1 what he was trying to communicate to them, or at least what they thought he was trying to say.
“You…. ran out of apples and…. You need help to get them from the orchard?” they inquired, and Slasher nodded, raising his hand with only his finger up to indicate that he needed one second before they went, as he excited out of the room. Welp, guess that 1x1x1x1 now really had something to do while he waited for everyone to wake up. Time to quickly finish the overripe banana because they knew for a fact no one but them would be willing to eat it.
They threw the banana peel away in the trashcan as Slasher walked into the room again, now fully in Slasher gear and back with his signature mask on. He grabbed the bag and then he 1x1x1x1 by the arm, and dragged them out of the room, pulling them towards the hallways and into the living room and right into the outside world, where it was still dark and gloomy outside and there was not a single soul to be found. Even though the lighting outside stayed relatively the same throughout the day and the night, it did truly feel like the dead of the night.
They moved to the backside of the house, where they could see the flowerpot of the day before, gently covered with a really early morning dew, and that is when Slasher let go of their arm. 1x1x1x1 saw him fiddle with the broken gate and then slightly creaked it open, as he pulled out something from one of his many pockets and, he grabbed a tall stick that had a lantern attached to it that was leaning towards the other side of the fence. 1x1x1x1 took this as their queue to step out, and they saw Slasher use a rusty lighter to light the candle inside of the iron lantern, making the thing glow a creamy light that would be used to illuminate their surroundings.
Slasher pulled something else from their pockets, which ended up being a metal container that was filled with something that rattled each time it was shaken (most likely rocks) and he put it against the gateway, slowly closing said gate till it was stopped by the metal container. A door stopper. To prevent the door from slamming shut on them. That was… rather smart.
From there, the apple orchards weren't really that far. There were the first things that were past the gate. They looked rather desolate from what 1x1x1x1 remembered of yesterday, but now, illuminated with the lantern, they looked like rather healthy and happy apple trees. The apples themselves were big, and were of a red and yellow color. These were most likely honeycrisp.
Slasher pointed at the very first tree, probably deciding that picking the apples from that one would suffice for right now, and he placed his empty bag on the ground, while he held the lantern towards the tree to illuminate all the apples that were on it, and they gestured at 1x1x1x1 to climb the tree. Truthfully, they had never climbed a tree before, but once they got a good grip on the bark and the branches, they found it significantly easier than climbing a pillar. They climbed their way up and sat on the thickest branch of the tree, beginning to grab the apples that were on the thinner branches above them. They tossed them down one by one, Slasher catching each and every one, and he began placing them inside of his bag as he caught them. The light slightly wavered in the process due to the wielder’s constant movement, but 1x1x1x1 didn't really mind. Eventually, this became a process, and their movements became kind of second nature, as they began wondering what else they would do later in the day. And before they knew it, the apples in the tree decreased, and they got a feeling that all of them were going to be in the bag soon. In fact, at one point they really thought they were done, as they stopped picking the apples and began admiring the view from up the tree, seeing the fields of trees that stretched onwards.
They must have been really lost though, because they didn't realize what was going on till the light shook and they heard a meek little voice say “...Y-y-you missed one”. That voice immediately snapped them out of their thoughts, and they turned to see if there was anyone else there, only to find Slasher alone on the ground. This time, however, he was pointing at a very high up branch where a singular apple sat. They turned to look at Slasher, and it was clear that he was the one speaking “U-up there. Don't know if you can get it though.” While they did find it odd that the guy could speak, in fact, they had never heard him utter a single sound before, they decided that it would be best to get the apple and get off the tree before they asked any questions. And as such they did, stretching a bit to get the apple and grabbing it, and then hopping off the tree, apple in hand.
“...I’ve never heard you speak” 1x1x1x1 noted, handing Slasher the apple, and he gave them the lantern momentarily while he threw the apple in the bag and then closed the bag with a nice little bow. He then grabbed the lantern back from their hand, while muttering “...it's hard to speak. I’d rather not do it at all”
They nodded, and they watched as he began to walk to the gate. They walked right after him, asking “Does it hurt when you speak? Is that why you don't talk?”
Slasher shook his head “n-not really. It really is just hard for me. Maybe in the past I would talk and socialize more but…. Now I find it hard to be around people in a closed off space, let alone speak to them." The duo made it back to the gate and he put out the fire inside of the lantern “being outside, with few or no people with me. It-it becomes easier.” he stated and he opened the gate.
“....Ya know what, fair enough. Here, to some degree anyways, you don't have to do anything you don't want to.” They said “Either way, if you ever need help with the apples again, I’d be willing to help… even at the crack of dawn.” They picked up the medal box from the ground and handed it back to Slasher who had finished closing the gate behind him “You’re nice to be around anyways, Voice or no Voice”
1x1x1x1 obviously couldn't see his facial expression through his mask, but they got a small feeling that the dude was probably smiling, at least a bit. “T-thank you” He murmured, and he searched through his pockets, pulling out one of the apples they picked back to them. 1x1x1x1 had no idea that there was just randomly one apple in their pockets, but you know what? Why not
“Any time” they said, and with that they grabbed the apple from his hand, and the duo parted ways, 1x1x1x1 eating the apple as they walked
It was certainly miles better than the overripe banana.
1x1x1x1 briefly went back to the apple orchards later on in the morning to grab another apple for themselves because the last one was just that gosh darn good. They placed it in their pants pocket, making a mental note to save it for later. Otherwise, they might as well end up an appleholic. Not really a good thing, especially since there were people that needed the apples more than them.
They made it back to the cabin and they sat down on the couch, but before they could kick back and relax or whatever, they felt someone sneak behind them playfully. They turned around to see Charlatan, who clearly got shot at some point since her arm was bleeding. However, she was still smiling through the pain and it was rather unsettling.
“You’re up again!” She stated and that was that. She helped them off the couch and pushed them out the door before they could even protest. Guess it was time to lock in yet again. Hopefully, it wouldn't be as depressing as the unfortunate Two time match of this morning.
The map this time around was Underground War. Not really a personal favorite of theirs, as they sometimes got pushed down into the holes and dropped into the lower level mid chase when there were sentinels around. The more they thought about it the more the map pissed them off. But… it definitely could be worse.
The Specter handed them the list of survivors that would show their ugly mugs in this place. Expecting absolutely nothing special as always, 1x1x1x1 scanned the list…and their heart skipped a beat once they saw who would be there
“Veeronica
Valkyrie
Dusekar
Chance
007n7”
The butterflies began to populate their stomach again. Ever since they last saw 007n7… they wanted to see him again. No… they NEEDED to see him again. Obviously they had kept busy with other stuff but, and they did have fun with the others living in the cabins but…this was different. It didn't matter if they just threw the entire match, they just needed to see him really really badly, just to at least say thank you for the light or…something. It seemed that even the Specter could sense the eagerness in their eyes, as he dropped them right in without any more unnecessary dialogue. The timer clicked to 3:45, as customary, and the match began.
1x1x1x1 spawned in the underground area, next to the big red stair case, and the first thing they did was go up the stairs while they ripped out their eyes to scan everyone's location. As they got up the stairs, they spotted Chance and Dusekkar nearby, walking together, seemingly talking, and they could faintly hear the sounds of Chance’s coin flipping over and over again. They aimed their mass infection very carefully, where they thought these two would be standing when they actually shot it, and they were surprised to find out that it only landed on chance, yet it detailed 80 damage and the gambler dropped dead like a fly. It seemed that today was NOT his lucky day (When was it ever this guys lucky day anyways? Each time they saw him they just saw him flop one way or another).
Either ways, they saw the pumpkin man registered the shock of seeing his now dead companion be killed so recklessly , but he was quick to recover, and then run behind the pillar parallel to the opening of the staircase to sneak into the other upper section of the map, and 1x1x1x1 was quick to go after him, landing an entanglement hit on him, but since he still had a lot of distance on them they couldn't catch up just yet.
When 1x1x1x1 caught up to him, they were in the other section of the map where Dusekkar had already climbed the ramp to get into the highest point in the map, that one were the generator spawned in sometimes and also an area where 1x1x1x1 would often get looped in due to sheer stupidity. As 1x1x1x1 made it up there, he aimed and cast his slowness spell on them. Good was his aim as they felt themselves be hit by it. Fucking annoying, but whatever, maybe if they could trick him into going down by pretending they were going to go up. It would become easier for them that way.
As they moved to make it seem that they were going to climb up the ramp, they ripped their eyes out yet again, just to see what plans Dusekkar had in mind.
To their absolute surprise and delight, the sorcerer felt right for it, jumping to the ledge and falling to the ground, only to see 1x1x1x1 still at ground level, and to get hit with a face of Mass Infection. After that, it wasn't much longer of a chase till the magic pumpkin man eventually died.
1x1x1x1 prepared to find their next victim, and they looked around, walking, hoping to see anyone as they traversed back into the first upper area they were in, waiting for the cooldown on an unstable eye to pass, to see if it was safe to now move on to the lower levels. As they walked slowly scanning the area, they felt something hit their back.
1x1x1x1 turned to look around, and they saw 007n7 running into him. Well, not actually 007n7 running into him, but one of his clones. The clone quickly fell to the ground, now as dead as a fish out of water, and they saw in the archway the real 007n7 standing, looking quite nervous, as he was unsure if they had any plans to attack.
They quickly shot an entanglement at him, as to ensure he wouldn't waddle away (might have been a little bit too harsh, as they saw him tense up, but, whatever), and they walked up to him, and they walked in circles around him scanning him up and down, akin to how a watch dog scans a potential threat. To no one's surprise, he looked the same as always. Jeans, shirt with that dumbass graphic, glasses, burger. 007n7 took the hint that apart from that initial entanglement, 1x1x1x1 wasn't planning on doing anything malicious, so he seemingly calmed down
‘Good morning!” 007n7 said “You’re… not going to wait till LMS? You're not going to kill the others?”
1x1x1x1 ripped out their eye to see where the other two survivors were, as they couldn't get too comfy just yet. Both of them were in the lower level, one of them doing a generator, while the other one just stood around, chit chatting. It seemed like they were most likely going to stay down there.
They put their eye back in place “nah, don't need to.” and they began to walk back to the ramp where Dusekkar previously tried to loop him before, 007n7 following right behind him. Both of them seemed to have somewhat of a love to go to the highest place in any map to talk, to enjoy the somewhat underwhelming view. They sat down on the ledge of the end of the ramp, 007n7 dangling his feet into the air. It really wasn't a long fall down, but it was tall enough that nobody's feet could possibly touch the ground from there.
1x1x1x1 initially looked onwards into the distance, wondering what 007n7 would talk about today, but to their surprise, instead of hearing a word from the man, they felt him touch their hand instead, in a way that it felt like he was trying to grab it. They looked to see 007n7, who now looked embarrassed of being caught.
“Ah! I'm sorry! Something just caught my eye earlier when you were chasing Dusekkar. I was watching from behind the tree, but that's um, irrelevant ” 007n7 admitted “May I see your arm really quickly?”
They nodded, extending their arm towards him for him to see. It was at this moment that they realized that they had forgotten to take the bracelets Coolkidd made for them before the match. Oops. They could have broken and that would have been a whole other can of worms. Thankfully, they didn't.
“Did ... Did my son make these?” he asked, seemingly rather impressed with the skill, and also mesmerized by the familiarity. Right, Coolkid made these bracelets even before he got here. If there was anyone else that knew that it was 007n7
They nodded “I made….well… I altered something for him a couple days ago, so he made something for me back. Kind of like a trade”
“He had a knack for making beaded accessories back then… He called them kandi, I'm pretty sure . He had so many back then… he could fully cover one of his arms with the amount of bracelets he made.. He also made other stuff too… I'm so glad he's still making them….” A pause “what was it that you made for him? If… If you don't mind me asking, of course!”
‘I altered a pair of overalls so they would look similar to the kind of pants I wear” They signaled down to their legs “...not that hard of a task.”
“You sew?”
“Have been, for the longest time”
“That's really cool! The most sewing I have done is mending clothes, like closing holes and stuff.” He gently traced his hand over their legs, examining the article of clothing. Meanwhile, they were practically melting at his touch, and they had to mentally remind themselves to play it cool and to breathe (was it them, or was 007n7 slowly getting more and more close to them? Nonono… maybe they were just looking at it through a different point of view. Maybe he had always been this touchy with people and they just started paying attention to it more. But no… that also felt wrong.. OUGHHHH !) “These are really well made! I love the patchwork quality of them. Makes them feel even more personalized”
They managed to calm down enough to answer “I like.. Repurposing scraps from other projects. That's why they look that way” a pause “Its just become second nature I guess… I have been sewing and altering almost all of my clothes, as far as I remember”
“That's amazing! Your skill really shines through, "he complimented, and they could feel themselves feeling a bit flustered at the small praise, but before they could say anything again, 007n7 started speaking again, following his usual patterns of speech.
‘Completely unrelated to what I was saying before but… you seem… a lot more talkative now.” He said.
“...I am..?”
“Yeah!! Before you would do a lot more staring and nodding and shaking than actually talking, and when you did speak it was like a word or two or a sentence at most… but now you do a lot more speaking and a lot less of the other stuff. Not like- not like the fact that you weren't talking before is necessarily bad!! And also you talking now isn't necessarily bad either! I just.. Though…It was worth pointing out.”
Guess that… just like they noticed that he was growing closer to them, he noticed that they were also starting to open up a bit too. Huh.
“Guess.. I've just become more open to being around others as of recently… It's nice.” They said “You're nice. My other friends are nice. The people in the killer cabins… they’re generally nice… welcome me with open arms”
“Gee… maybe I should go and move into the killer cabins myself” They very faintly heard him mumble. A moment of the mask slipping, it seemed, but he shook his head and he was back into his 007n7 business as per unusual “Im glad! It's nice to have people that care about you around you, ya know?”
1x1x1x1 stared at their companion, now feeling a bit sad for him. While for them making it here was a good thing since they were now around a lot of people they felt they could trust, it seemed that things weren't necessarily the same for 007n7. Not a lot of the survivors seemed to trust him based on the small whispers they heard from the lot and the very obvious fact that 007n7 kind of admitted such a thing right now in his own way. They are not… necessarily mad at the general survivor populace really, they have a good reason to not trust this man. But in a place like this…. You go insane if you’re alone… and if you became friends with the literal enemy… that probably means you were in a point of desperation that was unlike any other.
Maybe… Maybe they should give him something nice right now.
“....here… hold your hands out like this” 1x1x1x1 said, and they put their hands in front of themselves and cupped them. A gesture similar to how you would hold a baby bird. 007n7 obliged, doing just that, and they fished out the apple they had been saving for later in their pockets. It was a bit bruised because of the chase, but otherwise it was still good. They put the apple on 007n7’s hands, and he looked visibly stunned, and a bit flattered.
They put their hand on his shoulder, and he looked at him dead in the eye.
“You deserve to have someone to care for you. If you need anything …I'll be there.” was all they stated, and although the man gulped, a smile quickly formed across his face. (and for a second, they whole heartily swear, they could see his face slightly flash red ... .Or maybe it didn't??? Maybe they're just being delusional?”)
“...thank you. For being here for me, always ” he managed, looking at the apple, then back at 1x1x1x1 “This… this really means a lot… for me” and they nodded, lifting their hand off the man, not really sure what else to say, but being generally happy that he felt that know he did have someone he could fully trust.
“...I thought I was going to eventually scare you away” the man admitted "I don't know why, but I wouldn't have been surprised if one day, you just stopped talking to me and the only time I saw you ever again was when i had to face death once again”
“I am not easily scared. There has to be a really off putting reason for me to run” they said bluntly “It would be easier for you to be scared of me than for me to be scared of you.”
“You don't know my past”
“You don't know mine either.”
A silence quickly appeared upon them, neither of them exactly sure about what to say next. Eventually, after what felt like an eternity, 007n7 spoke
“Maybe.. Maybe you’re right. I shouldn't have assumed you would be quick to leave someone behind. It still feels kind of surreal, especially considering you’re a killer and stuff but… thank you for…. Um… for being my friend… ya know?” (Why did he hesitate in calling them a friend? Is this another hint? Does he want more? Are they being delusional again?)
“You’re welcome… any time…. Friend” They managed, words bittersweet tasting, the attribute of friend stinging in their mouth. ONE DAY ONE DAY SON. THEY WOULD CONFESS. THEY ALMOST HAVE THE RIGHT AMOUNT OF CONFIDENCE THEY CAN FEEL IT!!!
Before either of them could do much of anything else, the timer ran out and 1x1x1x1 promptly collapsed as usual. But this time, the happiness and giddiness that was inside of their heart protected them from feeling any pain.
God.
They loved that man.
Day 5 (days till confession: 2)
Today, they woke up early…voluntarily this time.
They had felt so happy and giddy yesterday after the conversation with 007n7 yesterday. They were nothing but a pure bundle of joy. If some random person saw them like how they were yesterday, that person would have probably found it impossible to believe that this guy had been deemed a hate incarnate and a destroyer of worlds by the people. The point is, they had gone around and agreed to help out a lot of people. Well, not a lot of people. Just their close friends. They have just grown to love being around them more as time went on. Even past the matches they needed to attend, they ended up having a rather busy morning.
They did many things. The reason they woke up early was because they wanted to help Slasher pick apples, but this time they were picking them with Guest 666, and for Guest 666. A bit after that, they went back outside with Azure again, this time to take care of the guy's garden, and they were taught how to properly water plants and also how to spot warning signs of what a plant may look like when it's sick. They then helped John Doe look around the vacant dorms to see if he could find paper in order to begin making copies of the ASL book (That… sadly wasn't successful, however. Maybe the specter will be more generous next time he “restocks” the vacant rooms, for lack of a better word). And even past that, they still had enough time to play a couple of rounds of monopoly with Coolkid, who had also invited Charlatan to join them (they won no rounds. They were rather pissed about that). Needless to say, it was a rather busy, yet fulfilling day.
1x1x1x1 sighed in satisfaction as they sat down and they kicked back and relaxed on the couch. Life sure was good. Life WAS ACTUALLY GOOD…!!! Maybe actually being honest about how they were feeling was the best thing that could have possibly happened to them. It inspired them to spend time with others more, since they knew that they wouldn't judge them? In a way. It was as if their fear of letting their walls down was slowly disappearing.That made them happy
They didn't even know they could have been happy like this ever again. They thought those days of joy were just in the past because… well… you know….. Eugh. Fuck.
Shit, they shouldn't think about that right now. That's like. One rapid fire way to spoil the mood… um….Anyways….where were they? Oh that's right, relaxing.
1x1x1x hummed, letting themselves sink in the comfiness of the couch for the first time in.. forever, really. They were in bliss.
…keywords were because next thing they knew their head was being held on the sides by a pair of two hands.
“What the fuck.” they commented, rather befuddled. But they received no reply.
Oh.
It was this game.
“Do I have to guess who you are?” they asked, and they got no reply, so they assumed that would be a yes. So, they closed their eyes, and focused, trying to use the good old process of elimination.
There were some people that didn't talk to 1x1x1x1 at all, or people they voluntarily chose not to talk to, so they could start by eliminating those folk.
There was no fluff in the arms, nor any feeling of paws.Plus they were average sized. So it couldn't be Guest 666, or Coolkid, which was surprising because it felt like they would be the ones to pull a scheme like this.
The arms weren't gloved, or at least it didn't feel like they were gloved, so it couldn't be Charlatan or Slasher
One of the hands felt rather different to the other, so it couldn't be Phosphorus or Flowers, since they both have hands that match each other . Azure and Slenderman could also fall here, but they could do one hand and one tentacle to try and trick 1x … But it couldn't have been them either because the other thing did not feel like a tentacle. Also neither of them were the kinda person to pull such a game outa thin air.
That left…only John Doe and Noli. so they focused a bit more.
Once they realized that both of the hands had distinctly five fingers each, they already knew their answer. So after, what must have been a really long uncomfortable silence for the other party, 1x1x1x1 spoke.
“...Noli, I assume?"
“EuR3ka!!!” the faux deity cheered. “Y0-ure a Sh@rp One!” (not really sharp. Just a process of elimination…Do people.. Not sure about the process of elimination anymore?)
“....what do you want?” they said, slightly pissed. Sure, whatever. They were in their social group butterfly era or… whatever. But they weren't exactly buddy buddy with everyone. And even though they have had super… deep conversations with Noli, they still weren't 100% sure of what to make out of him.
“Ah, y@ kn0w! I h@ve Noth!ng bett3r to dO so… whY not HanG arroUnd liTTle old y0u f0r a biT!” Noli giggled “ YoU kn-0w.. yOu hav3 k!nd oF beeN aLL ovER the PL@ce…. S0.. hOw bouT i make yOu some t3@ sO yOu C@n Relax?”
They squinted at him. They had a sentiment that this guy had some sort of ulterior motive on why he would want them to drink tea with him, especially since they weren't the closest of friends. Mayhaps they were trying to get them to talk about something? They didn't know.
…But.. It would be rather rude to refuse. Wouldn't it? Especially since the last time they had a proper conversation was…. 5 days ago. Not like they cared about being rude or anything… being rude was their whole brand after all. But still…
…
Well, Tea did sound really good right now. They weren't sure where Noli even got tea from but. For finding random stuff, in this place, you.. Don't really ask any questions.
“...What the hell, sure.” They managed, eventually, and Noli let go of their head and they walked in front of the couch, seemingly waiting for them to get their bum off from the chair. Is it as if he was expecting them to follow him? What a tragedy. Just when they got all comfortable on it too. Nevertheless, they obliged, although they were now annoyed. They followed Noli to the kitchen, sulking with each step. They didn't know if he noticed that they were annoyed, as he never looked back.
When they went into the kitchen, they sat down on one of the dining chairs as they watched Noli move around in the actual kitchen. Seemingly he had already planned for this, as he had a small pot with water warming up on it. They weren't sure if it was water from the kitchen sink or whatever from the hose outside. They used the kitchen sink like once, for those god forsaken ramen noodles, but apart from that time they hadn't touched it. They just have heard horror stories that that sink only worked like half the time. Per the possibility that the sink wasn't working today, they didn't know how they would feel about drinking hose water.
…what were they thinking about that anyways? Dumbest thing to think about.
They watched as Noli rummaged through the cabinets, putting everything out of place, as per usual, and watched him grab a medium sided box of white tea that clearly had Phosphorus name on it. He pulled out 3 bags and placed them on the sauce pan. 1x1x1x1 was rather disappointed.
“First of all, fix the content of the cabinets” they spat from their chair “Second of all, why the hell are you stealing Phosphorus's tea? Hes going to fucking notice. He's not blind”
Noli sighed and began organizing the cabinets correctly again, or at least as correctly as he could “H3 t0ld m3 I cOuld gr@b fr0m hIs t3@ any TimE.” he bluntly said, and 1x1x1x1 genuinely couldn't tell if he was lying or not. Once he finished saying that, he began humming what sounded eerily similar to that one song from Moana…. “How far I’ll go”...? At least that was what they thought it was called. Honestly, they only recognized it because they watched the movie.. But.. what movie hadn't they watched?
“Why… are you humming?” they asked, and he stopped organizing stuff and he looked at them with the most blank expression. “I d0n't h@ve A timer t-o kNow when th3 t3@ is rea-dy., but s!nc3 I kn0w How lonG t-he S0ng is, I-t's bas-icAlly lik3 @ tim3r, yA kn0w?”, and he continued humming, more loudly this time. Probably an indication that he didn't want his timer to get messed up this time around. His humming was as glitchy as expected, but still hearable enough. The only time it kind of became irreconcilable was when Noli accidentally bumped his head against the top shelf of the cabinet, glitching for a bit, but he was able to recover. Once he stopped humming for real, he pulled out two very different looking cups (one styrofoam cup and one glass tumbler with a straw?) and he poured the tea, rather sloppy, kind of spilling the hot substance over himself. But, since he was holding the cups with the bonier hand of his, they doubted he got burnt. He filled the two cups and he brought them to the table, handing 1x1x1x1 the styrofoam cup.
“H0p3 yoU-r3 n0t a SuGaR oR Cr3@M perS0n! JoHn aND Azur3 hoArd the Sug@r and I hav3nt s33n MiLK or Cream3r arOUnd h3r3. eveR.” Noli giggled.
“...I don't drink tea.” they said, deadpan.
“Ah.. YoU a c0ffee perSon?’
“I don't drink coffee either”
“...Wh@t D0 y-ou DriNk?”
They stayed silent, before eventually saying “I don't. Drink. At all”
Noli blinked. “yA kn0w. You g3t more Depress!ng eaCh time I t@lk To you.”
That made 1x1x1x1 more pissed. That comment was fine for someone they could consider a friend, such as Azure or Coolkid. But Noli? They were still more like… acquaintances, per se? The point is, they were starting to get annoyed at Noli now. So much for having that feeling of bliss before. It is as if they were back to where they started yet again.
“...whatever man. See if I care” they spat, grabbing the cup. Welp, guess there was nothing better to do but drink the damn tea. That was.. The reason they were talking to Noli after all. So they took one sip. It was. Hot. It's really hot. They could faintly feel some kind of.. Floral taste? Very faintly though. It just felt like they were drinking really really hot water. Noli also took a sip of his own, and they saw him slightly wince at how hot the drink was. However, once he noticed they were staring at him, he acted all sheepish, like he didn't mean to show that he wasn't the biggest fan of tea.
“Ah! S0rry! I-JusT remembered Th@t… iTs No-T a G00D id3@ to PuT hoT dRinks In A Gl@ss cOntainer! ha-Ha!” Noli assured. 1x1x1x1 was not convinced.
“...Noli. you’re a terrible liar.” 1x1x1x1 deadpanned. “You’ve always been a terrible liar”
The man sighed “F-Ine. Y0u caUght me or. Wh@t3ver. Th3 t3@ is. J-st waY tOO hoT. I-t HurTs To DrInk iT….I-m noT the Bigg3st FaN of Te@,trUThfully.” That, they could tell, was probably one of the things he was keeping from them at this moment. Inviting someone for tea even though you don't even like tea.. No one ever does that. That means that in fact, he did have some other motive for this entire thing in the first place…. They could worry about addressing that later though.
1x1x1x1 put their tea down and pushed Noli’s glass tumbler to the side “You can just wait for it to cool off. Or ya know. I can drink it for you”
“F0r someOne th@t do3snt e@t or drINk much, YoU seem s0 EaGErto driNk 2 cUps of Te@.”
“I can never get full, like the same way I can never get hungry. I can eat as much or as little as I want. As long as my mouth doesn't feel dry, I'm fine. Honestly"
“Hu-h…” Noli leaned in forward, seemingly to examine 1x1x1x1 further “YoU-re reallY interestIng.. Ya KN0w? RoblOxiAn.. HuMan Like… But nOt TrullY. SOme differNet kinD of Entity. LikE iF the NaTRual w@s weAved WitH the suPer NaturAl. wh@t.. Wh@t Ar3 YOU..?”
They stayed silent, as their eyes widened a bit. Pensive. Dumbstruck… How the fuck do I even answer that question?
Noli took that silence as a sign that maybe that wasn't an appropriate question to ask. He leaned back and sat straight “Ah, AploGoi3s. Apologi3s. MayH@ps that w@s A LIne I waS n3ver MeanT tO cross.” A pause “A-h, wh3re w@s I? If t0u so wisH, y0u caN driNk both Cups. I.. doNt have the paTience tO wait for iT to c00l off right now.” He giggled “N0t lIke I ev3r did.”
1x1x1x1 moved the glass tumbler to their side of the table, then grabbed their original cup and they began to drink from it again. “I can tell. You being patient is like a pig flying. It doesn't happen”
“H3y.” Noli said, annoyed, kind of similarly to how 1x1x1x1 was when they got called depressing. “W3ll, !t doesn't matT3r.”
Noli looked to the distance “ I aLw@ys W@nt3d To eXplOre The w0rld. I w@s alw@Ys On My f33t aNd imPatieNt caUse I JuST waNt3d To sE3 wh@t WaS OuT Th3r3. AtLeast thatS whaT my M0mma uS3d To sAY. Ha-ha” the laugh was forced. He just sighed.
“Did….” they weren't exactly sure what to say. Just… say anything..right? “Did.. did you ever get the chance to explore the world?”
“I d-id. I d-id. Wh3n I waS a ColleGe kiD. roUnd 10 y3@rs Ago. M@n, Th0se weRe The b3st Y3arS of MY l!fe. I W@s a Sm@ll TowN boy, I-d AmIT. LiveD in A sm@ll ComuNIty ALl my lif3, anD I bar3lly l3Ft to Other Pl@ceS C@uSe m0neY was TiGht, It w@s jU-st M0mma aNd me aND sh3 haD t0 wOrk All Th3 t!me In Ord3r tO supp0rt The bOth of uS… It was A luxUry TO go Expl3re The W0rld. So Wh3n I manAged To geT a FuLL rid3 to One of th3m big City C0lleges yoU best kn0w I weNt rIGht aheaD AnD I paCked My baGs and I KissED my M0mma GooDbye as I w3nt Of to s33 anD le@rn How Gr@nD th3 ResT Of the WorLd waS.”
1x1x1x1 nodded “that… that sounds nice. I’m glad you got the chance to do that eventually. At least for a bit. Thats… more that some people get”
Noli smiled a bit, giggling “Y3@-h. It w@s tHe b3sT 3 Y3aRs oF my Lif3.”
“...three? I thought college lasted four years. You… graduated early?”
His smile became hollow. “n@h. I h@d T0 drop oUt. For r3@sOns out oF My ConTR-0l.” a pause “Sam3 reaSons I endeD up th!s way.”
“Ah..” they said “I see.” they were unsure on what to comment on, but in their head, they could slowly begin placing the dots of the grander story of Noli. wasting his college years exploring the places around him… having to drop out early for what seemingly seemed to be something with the void star interfering with his life… the void star being what seemingly ruined his life.. And… 007n7 left him when he needed him the worst… Did he know 007n7 from college? What else did he know? Sure, all of these things were connected, but how closely?
…it was not their place to ask however, so they kept quiet. As as such, there was an awkward silence between them before Noli spoke again.
“itS fUnny.” he chuckled “becAuse I org@niz3d Th!s enTire Plan F0r You To C0me DrInk te@ witH m3 In Order To geT yoU taLKiNG bUt isntEaD I EnDed uP beIng the one TalkINg.. Is It maYhaps BecaSue IM a bIg yappEr, or yoU jsuT kn0w how To aVoid TaLKing ab0uT yours3lf?”
Oh… of course, that was probably the other thing Noli was keeping from him, and aslo what was 1x1x1x1’s suspicions about this entire ordeal at first. By no means they were surprised. But now, unlike before, they weren't pissed either. This was,, actually a nice conversation to have, if they were being honest.
“Who knows.” they replied, taking a sip of the tea. Seems like it had been a long time since their last sip, as it was colder than before.“..okay though. Spit it out dork. What do you wanna know?”
Noli kind of looked like a deer caught in head lights “ah! Ha-ha! uM….” his voice slightly waivered “H0w… Ar3 ThinGs gOing with.. 007n7? H0w’s… the guy beeN?”
They were caught a bit off guard “ I thought you hated the guy? Why do you care?”
“I- would-nt. Um. I DonT re3lly hat-...d0 I?. *sigh* ItS ComPlicateD. D0Nt wann@ taLk aboUt th@t riGHt now!” he managed “bUt this AinT abut m3 anYmore! ThIs is aBOUt you? CaNt on3 jUst ask about th3ir ex…theiR ex be3st frieNd! Y-es! Yes. TheIr ex-besT friend. CanT on3 jUts asK abOuT TheiR ex-BesT frI3nd frOm tIme To Time?”
1x1x1x1 raised an eyebrow (god. Why were both Noli and 007n7 such terrible liars, yet somehow they still managed to keep a lot about who they were hidden?) , but, they had no reason not to speak "He's been ok. He seems nice. Well, at least he's very nice to me, very polite… Don't really think the other survivors are as nice to him as he is to me though. Not.. a lot of people like him. For well. Obvious reasons. As you said before in the past. I think it's slowly starting to eat away at him though. Not the past. Obviously. Just, the fact that people are being cold towards him”
“hUh.. Thats A new One.. nev3r ThoUgh I’d Live To se3 the Day Oth-3rs worRds and ActiONs actually affected him negaTively…” A pause “OkaY. H0w are YOu do!ng th3n? YoU seeM to be MoVing Up aND dowN th3 hou-se Mor3 OfTen AnD YoU s33m haPpIEr. WhAt ChaNGed YoUR bRaiN cHemsitry? And M0r3 imprOtaNTly, Can I hav3 som3 Of Th@T to0 in Ord3r to reAp soMe of Th3m Swe3t swe3T beneFits?... Jok3! Jok3! oF cour3se.”
1x1x1x1 was dumbfounded at first, but then they just giggled. “I guess.. I… I just spend time with others more often. That's all… That conversation helped a lot the other day, honestly”
“Re@llY? d@w… I c@nt MimiC Th3 benEfits that. The Only Th!ng that ComBo d-d was haUnt me WiTh the FaCt that N0w Azure Kn0ws foR a FacT I doNt shoWer.” A pause “mmH…. iS the FacT that You’r3 asL0 feeLIng the FeelINgs and Th3 aft3r3ffects of love th3 THing th@T it Making You All SunSHines And RainBows?...Mhhmm.. IS that why Y0u weRe reD In the Face Th3 Other day?”
They got red in the face again just thinking about that “Shut the fuck up Noli” they hissed
“iS it? Is iT?” Noli jeered, and in response to that, 1x1x1x1 put their cup down and slapped Noli across the face (...rather lightly though. They didn't want to hurt him.. Cause of the whole voidstar thing, ya know.)
“Owi33!!!” he …jokingly? winced. No glitching though. That was a good sign “j33sh! N0 n33d To g3T sO DramATic! I w@s JuSt asKing A questIOn!”
“Dont care” they scoffed “and for your information. Maybe. Not sure?”
“...mayb3..? W3ll.. th@t’s B3tter th@n a No…Mh.. TakiNg that as a Y3s then! Aw..! Y0u Ar3 A bIg soFtIe! Im Sur3 h3 woULd L0ve soMeone As LovestRuck and m33k as yoU!! he chucked, and they got even redder in the face. Them? Submissive? No way!
…But for 007n7…?
…
AUGHHH!! THAT WAS BESIDES THE POINT!
They jokingly slapped Noli again “eat shit and die Noli!”
“Owi33!!” he jokingly winced again “i’M tellINg my Momm@ abOut thiS!!”
They spent the rest of their time bickering in such a manner till 1x1x1x1 got called to participate in a match yet again. By then the tea had cooled off so much that Noli had actually begun drinking it himself. As they left to get prepared for the match, they saw him hurry to get what was left in the sauce pan too, seemingly to make it look like no tea had been prepared in the first place.
Sure, they were playfighting but… it was fun. This was fun.
Maybe.. They could consider Noli a friend now?
Maybe.
Day 6 (days till confession: 1)
The killer cabins were rather lively today. In the kitchen, it seemed that a group of people were having a lively conversation. They could hear Jeff, Slenderman, Phosphorus, and King having a Lively conversation. They could hear the sounds of footsteps upstairs, like some people were having a dance off. They could even hear another conversation happening outside, that between people they didn't really talk to and.. Some of their friends, it seemed. But that's not what mattered right now. Right now, they had been sat on the couch by Coolkid, the small child, who was not only rocking the fit exclusively made of stuff that they had made for him, but also managed to steal what looked to be one of slenderman’s suit jackets (white, for some reason? Did the guy have a fit for every color in the rainbow?), a ruler in his hand, as well as John Doe’s glasses. Well, a broken hair. Speaking of John Doe too, he was there as well, holding his signature whiteboard in his hands. He was smiling, but he looked a bit nervous.
Oh. And there was a “burger” on his head. In quotation marks because it was tiny and it was made of the beads that Coolkid used for his crafts.
1x1x1x1 remembered this conversation as clear as day, yesterday, after they got back from their match. Coolkid had insisted on helping them practice confessing to 007n7. They didn't even know one had to practice for such things (from what they remembered, confessions in tv usually happened on the spot, right after some the climax of the plot, or even during it. Sometimes they didn't happen at all. Weird, huh?)
Point is, they had no idea how the kid would help them, but they just decided it was a better idea to just do a “fuck it we ball” and go ahead with the plan. He didn't even know that he would get so serious about it, and that he would even recruit someone to be the 007n7 dummy… was a dummy really necessary? It's not like John Doe knew about this entire dilemma in the first place. Damm.. Coolkidd went behind Azure’s terms and agreements? That's wild. But… they were okay with John knowing. He was really nice after all
(they would make sure to scold Coolkidd for that later though.)
John tapped the kid's shoulder, and then he lifted his board “ Coolkid… dont ya think this is a bit… unnecessary ?”
The kid poked the man on his shoulder with the ruler "Nonsense! We can never be too ready! It is of utmost importance to make sure Mx. 1x is ready for anything! Anything!”.
Coolkid walked up to them, studying them closely, and then grabbing them by the cheeks
“Ya ready?” the kid asked.
“..I-I guess…”they mumbled.
“Okay!” He let go of their faces and gave them two thumbs up “show us what you got!”
1x1x1x1 got up from the couch, shrinking a bit into themselves and turned to face John Doe, as they saw from their peripheral vision that Coolkid had sat down exactly where they were before . Coolkid looked like he was a director from a movie set, judging carefully how the actors were acting.
John was obviously not 007n7. By a far mile. He was taller, had a more muscular build, different clothing style, had longer blond hair and yellow skin. He seemed to align more with the ideals of what was considered the "attractive man”, not counting the corruption (They’re not saying that they didn’t find 007n7 attractive, just the opposite actually but, ya know but.. He wasn't exactly Hollywood's love male interest type…. Not like… not like they were anything close to the female love interest either). But he had a similar dumb look on his face (despite the fact that he was always smiling) and glasses so… close enough?
This was dumb. But the pretend 007n7 could always be Noli. and that would be even dumber and 1000 times worse. Unicornically, John was probably the best choice for a pretend 007n7.
“...Hi” 1x1x1x1 stated bluntly “...” their mind blanked. They actually had no idea what to say. They could feel Coolkidd staring at them in anticipation, so they scrambled to find what to say. “Uhm… I like you.” was all they managed to say, and once a very long silence passed that clearly indicated that they had nothing else to say, they felt someone throwing a wad of popcorn at them.
“ CUTTTT !” Coolkid said. He had somehow managed to acquire a bucket of popcorn, which not only did he use to hit the ruler against to make a noise, but he was also digging his hands into it, munching on the popcorn kernels“what was THAT?!?!? ”
Before they could say anything, they saw John Doe scribbling something on the board. He lifted it up when it was done “ To be fair kiddo… you didn't exactly tell them what to say. Like, not even a basic idea or anything.” it read, and 1x1x1x1 was glad that John could put their grievances into words for them because otherwise they would have shook the hell out of the small child
“Yeah man, how am I supposed to know what to say when I don't even know what's appropriate to say?” they complained “I'm no Anna! I'm no Sam Sparks! I'm no Poppy! WHAT DO YOU WANT ME TO SAY ?!?!”
Coolkidd thought about it carefully for a second, and 1x1x1x1 could see his gears cranking through his eyes. Eventually he opened his mouth, coming up with the answer of the century:
“Well, I don't know man? What do you want to say?” was all he said, and 1x1x1x1 almost felt like they could face plant right then right now.
“I DON'T KNOW??? WHAT MAKES YOU THINK I WOULD KNOW?!” They were about to go on a rant, but John Doe taped their shoulder, holding the whiteboard up for them to see. It read “ Maybe try speaking from the heart?”
That… that could be something they could do. Yeah. yeah. Speak from the heart. Their heart. Or lack thereof. Their hypothetical heart. Yeah they could do that. So they took a second to calm down and turned to face John Doe again. Coolkid seemed to take the hint, as he cheered “Okay!! Try two!” all giggly “begin!”
Okay okay. What could they say that came from what they believed in?
“Um…”
Now they had the opposite problem as before. Before, they didn't know what to say. Now, they had too many things they wanted to say, but they didn't know how much they should speak, or what was even appropriate to say. Gods, why the fuck was this so hard?!?!?
“Um…”
They needed to lock in. They needed to be some kind of word whiz, they needed to show that they had some idea of what they were saying. Okay lets see, speaking from the heart right? Just tell him you like him, love him, whatever. Just. show a degree of thankfulness, and ask them out. But don't be too pushy, right? Leave some room open if he always doesn't want to accept. Because that can happen. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Why were there so many moving parts to this entire ordeal?
They weren't exactly sure if the nervousness was showing in their face or if they just took too long thinking about what to say, because next thing they knew was that they heard Coolkidd going “ CUT !!!” again, and they watched the kid get off from the couch and walked up to them, studying them closely.
“Dude! What is up with you?” he poked them with the ruler “were your confidence gone? Huh?” a pause “... Is it really that hard?”
They nodded “I guess…”, and as they said that, the door from the outside opened, and Charlatan and Slasher strutted in, walking together rhythmically, in beat of Charlatan’s humming, with their arms wrapped around each other's shoulders. They both had flower crowns on their heads, and 1x1x1x1 immediately recognized that those flowers were the very Lilies and Carnations that Azure had in their garden. Whatever happened outside must have been wild, because this was probably the happiest 1x1x1x1 had seen Slasher act around anyone, and additionally, Azure was super selective about how his flowers should be treated and the fact that these two golly buffoons managed to convince them to somehow give them a handful of flowers to turn into a flower crown was crazy...IF THEY EVEN DID THAT, Of course, since there was always the chance they could have just straight up stolen the flowers!
They stopped strutting when they saw the confession practice trio and they stood there hand in hand, waving, as Charlatan spoke “Golly day! What an interesting set up and interesting outfits yall have here. What is up, Coolkid?”
The kid walked up to the duo and gave them both high fives “nothing much!, just helping this dolt over there with their relationship blues!”
“Coolkidd!” 1x1x1x1 hissed. A small warning for the kid to take so he would shut his mouth
“Oohhh! Someone's in love!” jeered Charlatan much to 1x1x1x1’s dismay, and Slasher let go of her as he sat on the couch, seemingly having full intentions to stay and see exactly what shenanigans would be going on there. Great. Even more people judge them. They shouldn't have agreed to do this in the first place!
Coolkid sat on the couch again, next to Slasher, and Charlatan chose to stay standing. The trio looked at 1x1x1x1 with beady eyes as Coolkid said “okay! Try three! Just try to be less nervous and more casual!’ and 1x1x1x1 looked at the pseudo 007n7 again in the eye, while they tried to conjure up what they were going to say. As they thought, however, something caught their eye, and they realized that John Doe had written something on the board. “It's ok. You can do this. You got this” it said, and 1x1x1x1 nodded, looking John Doe in the eye again.
“Uhm… I have grown quite fond of you…. I like you so… I was wondering if you like me back?” was what they managed to say… huh.. They managed to say something! They were getting somewhere. That was good…right?
Again, the silence indicated that they had nothing else to say, and that was when Coolkid went “ CUTT! ”. No wads of popcorn were thrown this time, thankfully.
They looked back at the couch. Coolkid was just sitting there eating popcorn, but once he saw how befuddled 1x1x1x1 looked, he turned to look at his companions. Somehow, Both Charlatan and Slasher had acquired number signs that had dictated their enjoyment of their confession. Slasher had a 6/10, while Charlatan had a 4/10. How very nice. Also, Charlatan had managed to get a megaphone and a director's hat somehow. 1x1x1x1 had heard that supposedly she could just pull anything out of thin air if she so wished, but they did not know to what extent it was, and that it could be so situation specific. Jeez.
“ Dont ya’ll think this is a little bit too extra?” John Doe wrote
“There’s no such thing as too extra! That’s just a lie made by the commonmen to keep everyone acting the same!’ Charlatan said through the megaphone “Plus, this is showbiz, baby! We gotta make sure their acting is on point!”
“...It's not acting if im being deadass” 1x1x1x1 deadpanned.
“...fair point” she replied “Maybe I'm just the extra one! Haha!”
“Okay then!! We're getting somewhere!" Coolkid cheered, waving the ruler around, and he addressed 1x1x1x1, pointing at him with the ruler “You wanna do a try 4? Or do you think you’re ready?”
“...I don't see why another try would hurt.” they replied, and they got mentally ready. They felt.. More confident than the last try, really.
Before they could get another word out, however, the door opened again, and in came Noli and Guest 666, the later giving the former a piggy back ride
“O_oh! someThIngs gOing on!” Noli giggled, and the two stood behind the couch to investigate what the hell was happening in front of them. 1x1x1x1 scoffed, but they kept their eye on the price. John Doe looked a bit tense now that they were more people staring at him, but otherwise he was.. Seemingly fine.
‘Okay.” 1x1x1x1 stated “here goes nothing”. And they took a deep breath.
“It… has been my pleasure for you to be my acquaintance, but I just wanted to say that… I think we could be something more… so.. Wadya say?” they managed to say, and once they finished speaking, John doe was clapping.
They turned to look back at the overpopulated couch. It seemed that Charlatan had managed to get everyone to score signs, so it was just a bunch of people lifting buncha boards (Noli holding both his and Guests). The scores were as follows: 7/10 from Charlatan, 5/10 from Noli (of course he’d say that. If there was someone that was more extra than Charlatan it was Noli), 8.67/10 from Guest (did she like her decimals that much?), 9/10 from Slasher, and a surprising 11/10 from Coolkid.
“There's the Mx. 1x I know!!” Coolkidd cheered “I knew you could do it!”
Slasher showed his board again after writing something on it “ Simple, smooth and straight to the point. Pretty solid”
“M3 persOnally? I couLd d0 better. I d!d b3tter ActkTually.” Noli commented
“Shush it! This ain't about you!” Charlatan snapped back while yelling at the megaphone. It made everyone in the vicinity of the couch wince. But soon enough, everyone there began to bicker about how they went based on their rating.
It wasn't till John held his hand up that the micro argument stopped. And then, he lifted the whiteboard he had with him for everyone to see.
“ I think it was pretty solid! But I think the most solid one we can come up with would have to implement elements from both this attempt and last attempt. It was pretty smooth, yes, but the 3rd one felt more genuine. That's just me though! It's 1x1x1x1’s call at the end of the day after all ” it read.
1x1x1x1 nodded “yeah, you’re right. Welp, here goes nothing!”
“Take five!” Coolkid cheered, and the audience hurried up and wiped their boards clean to write their next ratings.
As time went on, it was, in fact, getting easier to roll words out of their mouths. Since they were basically near perfection, they just needed to combine everything they had just learned right now. Right? Right. Okay. They can do this, they believe in themselves (... Did they? No wait! That's irrelevant right now!), so here goes nothing.
“I’ve come to know you as my friend at this point, but I have also grown to be quite fond of you as well. I just… wanted to say that I like you. I wanted to ask you if you felt the same way, and if it was possible we could be something more…?” was that they managed to conjure up, and once they finished speaking, John Doe clapped again. He seemed.. Incredibly pleased, actually.
They turned back to look at the group of judges to see what they had put as their scores
Charlatan had a 10/10, Slasher also had a 10/10, Guest had a 9.97/10 (if rounded up it was still 10, so basically a win), Noli had a 7/10 (but he was the outlier so he didn't really count), and Coolkid had a 20/10 (that kid… gods. He's so sweet)
“F0r th3 recOrd, I still think I c0ulD do Bett3r.” Noli Commented, and Charlatan stood up on the couch to get to eye level with him, tackling him and bringing Guest down with them as a result. Once they were on the ground, Charlatan shook Noli like her life depended on it. “THIS AIN’T BOUT YOU!!!” she growled.
Guest got up and stepped aside as the two began to flap their hands against each other, play fighting like 2 little kids. And they continued in such a way, the rest of the group staring at them, not being exactly sure on what to do now. And this continued, till the cabin front door opened once again, as a very mad looking Azure stomped in and once they saw the group of hooligans in the living room. Slasher suddenly hid behind the couch, where Azure wouldn't see him, and 1x1x1x1 raised an eyebrow at that. Azure walked right up to the quarrel and he separated it by grabbing Charlatan by the neck and pulling her away from Noli. They held her like a cat.
“ I. KNOW. WHAT. YOU. DID. ” it was now Charlatan’s turn to be shaken, as Azure spat “YOU CANT JUST TAKE MY FLOWERS LIKE THAT!!!”
Oh. well. That explains the flower crowns. And why they were made with those specific flowers that Azure had in their garden. Sheesh.
“They were the dead ones! Swearsies!” Charlatan pleaded
“Yeah, right! And my favorite color is green!” Azure shot back, as they took the flower crown of her round head and stared at. It looked like they were going to go off another run again, but once they realized…something, their anger was replaced with some sort of confusion and they stopped shaking the gal.
At this point, 1x1x1x1 and John Doe walked up to where the couch was just to see what was going on better, and there were already whispers of what was going on too.
1x1x1x1 squinted at the flowers, and upon closer inspection, the flowers in the flower crown were in fact the dead and sick ones that they had helped Azure weed out just the day before. So… she was right?
“Oh.” was all that Azure said, placing the flower crown right back on Charlatan's head, and letting her go. The ex-game show host just looked glad she wasn't going to face the wrath of 1000 suns. And recognizing the coast was clear, Slasher stopped hiding
“See! When I say swearsies I never lie!” She got right back up on her fit, dug around her pockets for a bit, and pulled out a blue watering can with a white daisy decoration and placed it right in Azure’s hands “and if you really feel that sad about losing the dead flowers, consider this my apology gift!”
Azure looked at the can, then back at Charlatan, then back at the can, then back at Charlatan again. “Th-thank you” they said, confused as ever, but they eventually got over it. However, it seemed that there was something else in their mind now.
“Anyways…” They began “What are yall even doing here? It's so weird to see so many people in one place! Hell, it's even weirder that amongst y’all Slasher and 1x are here! You two are never around this many people!”
“Oh, it's nothing much” Coolkidd spoke before anyone else could even have the chance to utter something. “We were just helping Mx. 1x make the perfect confession so they’re ready! Which we did, by the way!”
Azure blinked.
“Um… perfect how?” They questioned.
“OH, y@ knoW. JuSt Mak-ing iT f@!l pro0f, O-r someTHing. Th3 IdeAl ConFessIon everyONe loNgs to hear!”
Azure blinked again. And they turned to look at 1x1x1x1 “You care about this… this much?” and once they said that, everyone and their mom turned to look at 1x1x1x1. What a great way to put them on the spot AGAIN!!! They thought they were finally free from this whole ordeal, but whatever!
…huh. Did… did they really care that much about the practice? When had such a simple task evolved into.. Whatever this was!! Like sure, it was nice to go though this, like the confidence boost was amazing and they were probably more ready for this task than ever before but… as stated… was it really necessary? It's not like they wanted it in the first place, hell, they quite literally got roped into this so…?
“...Not… really?” they eventually managed “Coolkid just offered to help and I was like… "screw it, why not”
“And I offered because! Because!” Coolkidd interjected “because they were doing so much stuff for everyone yesterday and helping all of us around, that-that I thought I should help them with their business too, ya know?” (Really? That.. that was really sweet of him! Typical Coolkidd, huh?)
“Ah, I see” Azure said, and they let out a hearty laugh "Seriously though, this setup is crazy!! Using John Doe as a stand in for the love interest? The megaphone? The director's hat? The popcorn? The ratings? The entire take 5 thing? Y'all were being loud as hello so I could hear y’all from outside! I swear to god, if yall saw how I got confessed to back in the past, you guys would have thrown tomatoes!!!”
“Hey man! Don't diss on the props!” Charlatan hissed “It's for authenticity!"
“I thought you said it was to be extra!” 1x1x1x1 deadpanned
“Same thing!” She growled back
Azure just stood there, and Guest patted them on the shoulder, seemingly showing them something on the board. Once Azure read it, they were dumbfounded
“You seriously wanna know?” They stated “you know what, fine. I’ll tell the story. I'm not fond of them anymore but it's still a pretty funny story”
“ohH! st0rY tiMe fr0m AzUr3! thIs OugHt to B-3 inteRestIng! W3 ouGHt to Rate ThIs ConFessIon To0!” Noli giggled, and Azure sighed, but began telling the tale nonetheless as the rest of the group got closer to them in order to hear what bombshell they were about to tell.
“Okay so, once upon a time, I used to know a guy. Lets call them… uh… oh! “Elaeagnus Umbellata Thunb” or just Elaeagnus for short. Anyways, me and this Elaeagnus person were currently at the church of our town after a sermon, and they told me they needed to go to the bathroom so badly and they were going to have an accident if they didn't go. So I followed them to the bathroom and I waited for them outside while they did their business. I heard the toilet flush, I heard the faucet run, and this dolt stepped out with a crazy feeling in their whole demeanor. Elaeagnus looked me dead in the eye and told me that they must have eaten something bad because their tummy didn't feel good and they were going to head home before so they could explote in their private toilet rather than the toilet of the church. And I was like “Okay whatever suits you buddy. "And then this dolt looked at me dead in the eye with the most insane look on their face and was like “Oh btw I have like a huge crush on you, anyways I gtg now before there needs to be a cleanup because of me” and then they just bolted out of there. Seriously, who does that?”
1x1x1x1 got handed a board by Charlatan to write their score of the confession with, and the judges panel scrambled to get their thoughts in. Eventually, everyone wrote their scores, and it read as followed:
1x1x1x1 gave this.. Elaeagnus person a very generous 3/10 because at least they managed to communicate their point across with a straight face.
Meanwhile, Coolkid felt extra generous and gave them a 4/10, Both John and Slasher kept them at a 1.5/10, Charlatan gave them a measly 0.5/10, Guest a 0.12/10, and Noli granted this mysterious soul the biggest and fattest 0 that god himself could have provided. Azure seemed to be content at the scores “yeah, thats what I though”
“AND y0U s@ID Y3S?!?!” Noli pleaded with them “ GiRl. IF soM3oONe C0F3sSED T0 m3 LIke ThAt ID thROW thEM UndEr the BUS!!”
“ You know I wonder sometimes why I said yes too.” they concluded. “But that's besides the point. Y’all seemed to agree that was the most ass confession ever, and while it was, it still worked. So at the end of the day, does it really matter how good or bad the confession is as long as the confession comes from the heart? Cause yea sure, the perfect confession is good, but a genuine confession will always be better.”
The entire room filled with oohs and ahhs and sounds of agreements once Azure finished speaking, like they got a change in perspective or something, and then they turned to look at 1x1x1x1 again, like they orchestrated the entire thing (spoiler alert: it wasn't them, it was the kid!!)
“Um…” they began “I guess that does make sense, but that doesn't mean everything we did… was for naught tho…. Thanks to this..I feel… more confident now. I think I'm actually ready to tell everything to this person now.” they muttered “...thank you all.”
Coolkid tackled them in a hug “You’re welcome!! Super glad we could help!!”, and everyone made sounds and murmurs in agreement, murmurs of your welcomes and anytime
“Speaking of, who's the lucky man?” Charlatan said “Or woman! Hey, I don't judging!”
1x1x1x1 got as red as a beat in the face. Oh, that's right. Not everyone here knew the identity of the one they longed for, the one that John Doe was pretending to be this entire time. Maybe if the burger was bigger, the signs would have been obvious, but that tiny bead burger John had on his head was more like a hair accessory than anything.
“ Let's not put them on the spot right now.. ?” read the board that Slasher shoved in Charlatan’s face.
“Gee! Ok! I was just being silly!” she giggled “...it's not someone amongst us though.. Right? because if it was, it would have been embarrassing to see them walking in here!”
1x1x1x1 immediately relaxed. Man, they owed Slasher for that one. “No… It is not. And that is all I'm going to say.”
“Keep us updated on what happens though!” Coolkidd said “I hope everything goes well!”
“I will.. I will.” they stated, and then they whispered to him “I'll especially keep you updated.”
And that was that. Confession practice that may not have been necessary stopped indefinitely at try five. And they were still bewildered at how far they had made it in such a short while. Hell, actually, around a week ago, the thought about being with so many people in one shared space would have made them queasy as hell and would have made them never step out of their room again. But now? This was, this really was the best thing ever. Even if everything went to disarray, they would still have the people here to lean back to. And they would make sure they could lean back on them, to the best of their ability.
They were glad of the person they were slowly growing to become, bit by bit.
They couldn't wait to be that person.
They couldn't wait to be that person with 007n7
They couldn't wait just a bit
They were ready.
Notes:
gee! its been a hot second, but hi! i am back!! long story short, the ao3 writer curse struck on me and i got really sick! and with sickness comes writers block... sigh.. but dont worry! now im here, and im better than ever!! and I have come to deliver this yummyliscuous piece of writing that made me feel sososo happy writing it.. it was actuallt so mych fun... it was so worth he sickness hhhh...
have your second serving of fluff!! i hope that you guys liked these 2 chapters that were orgibally meant t be pne. I was genual;y surpised that they got like. this long. this fat. I didnt mean all this to be so ambitions! lol. but im glad it was, im glad it was. It was a journey I enjoyed writing. a lot. it makes me very happy. im very very happy. both for the found family and for the poisonbuger development. speaking of which. Yes! the confession chapter will be the next chapter! so get strapped and get ready! cause its gonna be the coolesting thing ever!
"rosmerie whats up with the fact that theres still 10 chapters left after this one and hald these tags havent kicked in " shhh dont worry about that right now <3
appart form that, I dont really have much to say or comment on. sorry chat
either ways, thank you sososos much again for the surpport! i appractie every single one of those 136 comments and 319 kudos and 37 bookmarks and JEESH!? 6.2K HITS?!?!? YOU GUYS ARE INSANE!! IM SO HAPPY YOU LIKE THIS! THANK YOU SOSOSO MUCH AHHHH!! YOU GUYS ARE THE BEST!
anyways, i hope you guys have a wonderful week! till next time!
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Estaxystarr on Chapter 2 Mon 28 Jul 2025 02:13AM UTC
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CryingFORSYTHIA on Chapter 2 Tue 29 Jul 2025 01:50PM UTC
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ImEverywhereYouWontExpect on Chapter 3 Tue 29 Jul 2025 01:42PM UTC
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CryingFORSYTHIA on Chapter 3 Tue 29 Jul 2025 01:52PM UTC
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Clownshannk on Chapter 4 Tue 29 Jul 2025 01:29AM UTC
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Estaxystarr on Chapter 4 Tue 29 Jul 2025 02:26AM UTC
Last Edited Tue 29 Jul 2025 02:27AM UTC
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CryingFORSYTHIA on Chapter 4 Tue 29 Jul 2025 01:53PM UTC
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Estaxystarr on Chapter 4 Tue 29 Jul 2025 04:36PM UTC
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